


Thorns Before Roses

by Gozzer



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Arguing, Asshole Thranduil, Blood and Injury, Cameras, Cell Phones, Death, Elves, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Modern Girl in Middle Earth, Pictures, Play Fighting, Roses, Singing, Songs, Swords, Thranduil Not Being An Asshole, Training
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2021-01-25 19:02:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 61,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21361135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gozzer/pseuds/Gozzer
Summary: In a strange occurrence, Amber Rays finds herself in the Shire. There she is met by a wizard that drags her along for the adventure of a life time. But does she want do this? What about her life back home? And just why is it so damn important for her to join Thorin Oakenshield's company on their quest?
Relationships: Bofur (Tolkien) & Original Female Character(s), Dwalin (Tolkien) & Original Female Character(s), Dwalin (Tolkien)/Original Female Character(s), Thorin's Company & Original Character(s)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 45





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is entirely self-indulgent. I enjoy writing this story and hope you find as much joy as I do reading it.

**You know that weird thing that sometimes happens when you get transported to another world? No? Just me then. Okay.**

**So I'm not going to say I didn't enjoy it. I did, at points. Met some lovely people and not so lovely people. Almost died a few times, but what's an adventure without a bit of danger? Anyway, my "adventure" was pretty fun. I traveled with a group of thirteen dwarves, a Hobbit, and a wizard. Recognize them? Some might, I know I did. Talk about shock.**

**But that's beside the point. I can't tell you why I ended up with them. Didn't really find out until later. But apparently I did have a part to play in the end. Much bigger than I thought I would. Can't say what it is yet, you'll find out. Though it had something to do with-**

**Well, how about we just get into it. Instead of me telling you.**

Sunlight filtered through the treetops down to the forest floor. A soft breeze was blowing and ruffling the leaves. It pushed around strands of long pink hair attached to a woman trekking through the forest trail. The sun warmed her face and whatever skin was showing. She smiled and turned her head up to face the warmth. Her hair brushed the ground with her tilted head, gathering a few leaves. 

Dropping her head she looked back to the path she was taking. It was well used with a few signs pointing to where the lake and campgrounds were. The woman huffed a breath before shifting the heavy pack on her shoulders. A short sword bounced on the back of it. With a sigh, she started walking once more, after sliding her purse higher up on her right shoulder, down the path. Birds chirped from above in the trees while the sounds of small animals came from the bushes. She grinned once again and went to rifle through her purse when her foot caught a loose stone. 

The pink haired woman tripped and started forward into the path. Only she never connected with the stones. Her body fell onto soft grass with her face pressed down into it. Loud cursing came from her as she pushed herself up onto her knees. Pretty blue and red eyes opened to take in the dark area around. Above her the sky glittered with stars partially covered by clouds and around her was short grass with a couple of trees. Not really sure if she should get up and look around or just sit, she blinked several times. Then she rubbed her eyes and looked around again. When the fourth and fifth time came around something stopped her searching. 

The clearing of a throat behind her caused her try and spin on her knees. Which only resulted in her being drug to her back by the heavy pack on her shoulders. Much like a turtle she was stuck on her bag looking behind her. Standing behind her was a tall older man. A long gray beard hung from his face with a blue eyes peeking out from under a large gray hat. Her eyes trailed from his face to the wood staff he was resting on. 

"I see you have made it, Miss Rays." The woman on the ground opened her mouth before closing it again. She struggled to roll over but did so without the offered hand of help. Brushing off her pink skirt and crop top, she scrambled to her feet. 

"You better not be who I think you are. I've read enough fanfic to know how this goes," she said. Her arms crossed over her chest as she glared up at the tall man. It didn't help that she was short to begin with, barely standing five foot one. 

"I am Gandalf the Grey. The Valar have picked you to be brought through the veil into Arda. Though I'm not entirely certain as to why you are here, you are to accompany this quest." The woman dropped her arms and tugged her long hair over her shoulder. It just barely brushed the ground when up in the high ponytail she had it in. 

"No, no thank you. Doesn't matter which quest I'm going on, I want no part." 

"Miss Rays-"

"Call me Amber, Miss Rays reminds of my grandmother." Gandalf dipped his head to her at the request. 

"Miss Amber, you have no choice in the matter. You will be coming along with the company on their quest to take back Erebor. It would be best if you didn't say where you are from. We can work on your clothing in a moment," Gandalf said. Amber leaned away from him with a frown on her face. 

"I'm a terrible liar. Can't act for shit either, so no. If I'm stuck here, I'm not lying." She looked at her clothes then back at the wizard. "And I'm not changing my clothes. They're comfortable and nice in the sun."

"Come along, Miss Amber." Gandalf didn't argue with her and started off down a trail she didn't see. Shrugging, she cut her losses and jogged after him. 

They walked in relative silence for several minutes as Gandalf lead her through Hobbiton. She had seen the movies, and read the books, more than enough times to know where she was. The rolling green hills and small houses built into them was a dead give away. What era she landed in was hard to tell, but the mention of Erebor put her in The Hobbit. It was a favorite of hers but the Lord of the Rings trilogy would always be her top winner. 

Being bored with the silence she started humming to herself. It was a pop song that was playing on the radio that she couldn't get out of her head. She tapped her fingers on her thigh to the beat before stopping to push her purse back up her arm. The stupid light yellow thing was too big for her, more of a beach bag than a purse, and was full of things she didn't need. Every time she goes to clean it out more things seemed to find their way into it. It was a terrible habit. 

Amber studied the road they were travelling up, and the people on it. Several short people that she knew to be dwarves were gathering in front of a door. On the green door was a glowing blue symbol. A groan left her mouth before she could stop it. As much as she loved The Hobbit she didn't have much desire to play a part in it. Gandalf looked down at her with a raised eyebrow that she ignored. Instead she tugged at her hair while looking over the dwarves. 

Even from the back she could identify them. Bofur, Bifur, Bombur, Dori, Ori, Nori, Oin, and Gloin were all standing on poor Bilbo's doorstep. One of them pulled the doorbell just as Gandalf and Amber stepped up to them. Right on cue the door flew open and all of the dwarves fell to the ground. Amber looked down at them with a laugh on her tongue before looking to the Hobbit in the doorway. He looked from Gandalf to her before quickly looking away again. 

Rolling her eyes, she stepped into the house after the dwarves. She was taller than all of them but not by a lot. Still short enough to not have to duck through the doorways. She dropped her pack and purse next to the door with all of the dwarves stuff. Not really sure what to do she walked through the halls to where Gandalf was standing in the dining room. Several of the dwarves were with him and setting out things on the table. Amber had seen how this plays out more times than she could count. But with her added into the mix things were bound to change. Starting with Balin noticing her standing in one of the doorways. 

"Gandalf, who is it that you brought with you?" The old dwarf refused to look at her and kept his gaze focused on the wizard. All of the other dwarves stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her. Before quickly looking away again. 

"Ah, this is Miss Amber Rays." Gandalf motioned for her to step more into the dining room. Sighing, she took a couple of steps closer to the table. Her long hair swaying behind her, just barely sweeping across the wood floor, while she crossed her arms over her chest. 

"I can introduce myself, thank you." The wizard gave her a side glance with a warning aimed at her. To which she greeted with a wide grin. 

"Yes, of course." He turned away from her back to the dwarves. All of them were watching the wizard expectantly. "Miss Amber is going to be joining us. She has travelled a long distance to be here to help aid us."

"If you call falling like two feet a long distance we're gonna need to have a talk." Her voice startled several of the dwarves into looking over at her. "In any case, I was drug here by force. I didn't get a choice in this."

"Miss Amber." Gandalf's warning only got a raised eyebrow and a laugh. 

"I'm not from here. I don't want to be here, but I have to. Anyway," she looked away from Gandalf to the dwarves, "just call me Amber."

"Miss Amber, could you put some clothes on?" A harsh glare hardened on her face as she turned to Dori. 

"I have clothes on. If you have a problem with it then you can keep it to your damn self. I'm not changing just because my outfit offends your sensibilities. I have earned the right to wear what I wish. If you have a problem with it look away." She turned away from him to glare at everyone else watching. They looked away from her and back at each other. 

"Apologies, Miss Rays. We meant no offense to you," Balin said. Amber turned her eyes to him and upon seeing his sincere face she sighed. The old dwarf had always been her favorite in the movies, and it wasn't changing anytime soon. 

"I'm sorry for my outburst." She uncrossed her arms and looked over at Dori. "It's just that where I'm from women had to fight for the right to wear what they wanted. Many of us are still fighting."

"Right, now that Miss Amber as been introduced." Gandalf took the conversation back into his hands and away from the sticky situation. He held out a hand to the dwarves and waited for them to introduce themselves. 

Amber offered each of them a nod and possibly a smile. The dwarves were hesitant at first but went about introducing themselves. After the awkward affair the dwarves went back to getting things out of Bilbo's pantry and bringing it to the table. Not really sure about what to do, she went back to the entrance to her pack. 

She unzipped it and pulled it open. Inside there were a few pairs of clothes, tank tops and some jeans, and several bottles of alcohol. She was going to meet with her sisters at the campground with all of the drinks, and weed in her purse. Each of them had divided up what to bring and she was stuck buying the expensive things. But at the moment she wasn't complaining. If she had her weed to get her through this quest then she was going to be fine. Hopefully the dwarves wouldn't want to try what she had. 

Pushing away her clothes she pulled out a bottle of rum. The golden liquid sloshed back and forth as she stood up and made her way back to the dining room. The feast was in full swing by the time she stepped into the room. An empty seat was left for her next to Gandalf and Bofur. She flopped down in the chair and started twisting the cap off of her bottle. None of the dwarves noticed her as she went about piling food on her plate. She was starving after everything that had happened. 

The dining room was full of laughter and general merriment of the dwarves. Amber was sipping on her bottle while watching all of them. She didn’t know how to go about the situation without either offending someone or ending up dead. Already the dwarves avoided looking at her and no one had tried to talk to her. Which she was perfectly okay with. As it was she was well on her way to getting drunk and passing out in a room; hoping to wake up on the ground back in her world. But that dream didn’t seem to be happening anytime soon. 

Amber leaned back in her chair and watched as the dwarves slowly dispersed into the Hobbit hole. She had no desire to go snooping or acquainting herself to the others. As it was, she was content to continue drinking at the table. The only one still with her was Bombur. The round dwarf was still eating a block of cheese with some kind of bread. It didn't look half bad of a snack but Amber had eaten enough until the alcohol munchies started. They weren't nearly as bad as marijuana munchies, but they still happened. 

There was something about the round dwarf that made Amber want to sit at his side; and possibly engage in conversation. Which wasn't something that she expecting. In both the book and movies, there was never much interaction with Bombur. He was only really there for a joke in the series -to her at least- without any meaningful interactions. It was surprising her how easy it feels to be around the dwarf. Like she could talk or do anything and not get judged in any capacity. Like one would feel around close siblings and best friends. 

Edging into tipsy area, Amber got to her feet and joined the dwarf at the other end of the table. For a few moments she just sat there sipping on her rum while staring across the table. She could tell Bombur had glanced at her but continued eating like she wasn't there. It took another moment before she was opening her mouth. There were times when she could hardly be kept quiet; and that was mainly when she was drunk off her ass. 

"Do you have a family? Outside of those here?" The book and movies never really went into detail about the dwarves lives. Of course, she had read enough fics and other odd information pots to know that there was more to the families of the dwarves. 

"Aye, I've got a wife and little bairns at home," Bombur answered. It wasn't cold or empty, but rather full of warmth for his family. Amber smiled into the bottle and looked over at him. There was a joyous glimmer in his eyes and a grin on his face. 

"What're they like? I've never spent much time around children, myself." She tilted her head to listen to him talk. 

For the next half hour she listened to Bombur go on about his family. He talked about his kids and wife, but didn't stop there. Amber learned more about Bofur and Bifur than she ever expected too. Both dwarves were mighty special to Bombur and he was more than happy to talk about them. It warmed her heart to know that dwarves talked about their siblings much like some humans did. When asked, Amber could go on for hours about her own sisters without losing any of her vigor. But as it was, their talk came to a close as the other dwarves started trickling back into the room.

Amber was content to snack on Bombur's cheese and sip on her rum while the dwarves went about whatever it is they do. She watched as Bofur, Nori, Gloin, and Dori sat down at the table and proceeded to start scraping the silverware together. In her muddle head it took Amber a few moments to realize what it was they were doing. 

It didn't take long for Bilbo to say the starting sentence. Then it all went downhill from there. Amber couldn't stop herself from singing along and tapping on the table in the familiar beat. There was something entirely different to being in the chaos than just watching it. She felt lighter and more energetic, but that could be attributed to the alcohol. Half of the bottle was already gone and starting to hit her. She had already placed the cap back on to stop herself from drinking anymore. 

As it was, Amber was content to sit next to Bombur while the dwarves cleaned up. Their laughter was contagious and she found herself laughing along with them. Even when the knocks on the door quieted everyone else, she continued to giggle. She picked herself up and followed behind them into the foyer with her bottle clutched in one hand. The other was holding her up on the wall as the world swayed. A few more giggles escaped her that she tried to quiet when the door was pulled open. 

When Thorin stepped through the doorway Amber had to try harder to stop from laughing. She had seen this movie and scene so many times it was practically ingrained in her brain. A lot of minor details, and most of the other two movies, had faded but the major points still stood out. Which was how she could keep quiet for most of the interaction. But the second the word grocer left Thorin's mouth she was giggling again. 

Now, she's normally not so much of a giggly bitch but more of a talkative one. Her brain didn't get this memo and the results are her laughing at anything. So when everyone turned to look at her she started laughing harder and leaning heavily on the doorway. The bottle in her hand sloshed around and she nearly lost her grip on it. 

"Miss Amber." Gandalf's voice drew her attention to him. She continued to giggle and gave him a big grin. "Are you…drunk?" The word sounded odd coming out of the old beings mouth, and sent her into another fit. 

"I have ta be something," she giggled. She stepped through the dwarves and went around Thorin. "I'm hoping to wake up from this soon." Dropping next to her bag was not graceful and resulted in a loud banging from where her knees hit the wood. Her long hair spread out around her like a growing pink puddle. "Got family to meet up with. Sisters, they are. My older ones. You might like them but I doubt it. Don't think they'd like you lot much either." She stuffed the bottle back into her bag and closed it again. Once her task was done she fell back to the floor; resulting in her head smacking into the floor rather harshly. "Ah, maybe I'm just napping in the grass. And this is all a dream."

"I can assure you this is not a dream," Gandalf said. Amber lifted her eyes to look up at him as the dwarves muttered to each other. Another giggle bubbled up in her throat but she didn't let it slip past. "Pick yourself up and meet the leader of this company."

"Yeah yeah. Mister Thorin Oakenshield, King under the mountain." She groaned and lifted herself up off the floor. Her hair slipped from its ponytail and fell in a curtain over her face. Another groan left her as she pushed the mass out of her face. She really should cut it if she was to be staying here. But she didn't know if she could part with years worth of work. 

It took her a minute to pull herself to her feet. Her hair pooled on the ground with it no longer being held up. She felt several pairs of eyes on her but she didn't care. Instead, she kept her gaze trained on the dwarf standing in front of her. He was much prettier in person. 

"Who is this woman? And why does she disgrace us?" Amber narrowed her eyes at the dwarf. If she was sober she might have argued with him, but as it was, she didn't care much. 

"Amber Rays." She gave him an exaggerated bow. "At your service." 

"I am in no need of your service," Thorin said. 

"Alright." Amber straightened up and turned towards the door. "Imma head out and go home." She reached for her bags when a hand landed on her shoulder. A shock went through her body that froze her steps. It wasn't painful, but it wasn't exactly nice to feel. "Let go of me!" She ripped her shoulder out whoever's grip was holding her. Her shoulder was released and she slammed into the wall from her forceful removal. "What the hell was that?" She looked up from the ground to whoever was closest to her. 

"It seems there is more to you than I first realized," Gandalf said. He watched her with something in his shining eyes. 

"Yeah, good for you. Just don't fucking touch me again, you meddling wizard." Amber slid down the wall she was leaning against and sat on the floor. This whole situation was dragging on her good mood. "Carry on with your meeting. I'm not goin anywhere at the moment." She waved a hand towards the dwarves and closed her eyes. She really needed a nap. 


	2. Chapter 2

When Amber woke up, she had to take a moment to remember what happened. But she didn't get time to wonder as she stomach rolled and her mouth grew sour. Opening her eyes, she scrambled for the door next to her. She crawled out the door and puked on the grass next to the stairs. It took a few minutes to clear her stomach then she was sitting back up. 

The sky above her was still dark but she could see where it was starting to lighten. A half laugh, half sob left her mouth. This wasn't a dream and she didn't know how to get back home. Her chest ached as she continued to sob. She was so far from home and everything she was used too. It hurt so much more than she thought it would. There had been several times when she'd been thousands of miles away from her family, but there had always been a way to talk to them. In this place there was no way to contact them or even know if they were alright. Hell, there was no way to tell if she was even still alive. 

Amber curled into her knees and sobbed. This wasn't nearly as fun as she had thought it could have been. It hurt and was sad. There were so many things that could go wrong here. She could end up dead in the next ten minutes, or she could end up ruining this world. With everything she knew about this world and its stories, she could the end them all with a single move. Things were settling on her shoulders and she knew she would have to take care of them. No matter how much she wished, pleaded, or hoped to go home, she knew that it wasn't going to be happening anytime soon. 

The creak of the door next to her didn't gain her attention. She continued to cry into her knees until someone came to sit next to her. The shifting of clothes had she sniffling and rubbing at her face. Tears continued to drip down her face as she turned to who was sitting next to her. A huffed laugh left her nose as her blurred vision cleared enough for her to see who was next to her. 

Bifur sat next to her watching the sky. He didn't move or say anything, but Amber was already feeling better. They sat in silence for a few minutes as she dried her tears. She stretched out her legs, making sure her skirt didn't lift up, and her arms. Her bones popped and cracked with her movements. A satisfied sigh left her mouth before she went about brushing through her hair. It had a few tangles but nothing compared to what it could have been. 

"Thank you," she said. It was quiet but well meant. She twisted up her hair into two braids then tied them into a bun at the back of her head. Two long strips fell on either side of her head and framed her face. 

The dwarf next to her grunted but didn't say anything. Amber smiled softly and leaned back against the Hobbit hole. They sat in silence for several minutes before she groaned. She really needed to change clothes and down some ibuprofen to stem the headache building. Once on her feet, she offered a hand down to Bifur. The second he grabbed her hand the shock from last night traveled up her arm. 

"That's so fucking weird." She muttered as she pulled Bifur to his feet. He looked down at his hand then up at her. "You felt it too, huh?" Several words of Khuzdul left his mouth but she couldn't understand what he said. "I'm gonna take that as a yes."

Without another word the pair stepped back into the Hobbit hole. Amber bent down to grab her bags before hopping through the halls to the bathroom. She was quick to strip of her crop top and skirt before pulling on a tank top and ripped jeans. They were her exploring clothes. The ones she uses when she has to find a good place for pictures. 

Outside the door she could hear the dwarves moving around. They weren't particularly quiet but they weren't making a huge racket either. Amber stuffed her clothes into her pack and slung it over her shoulder. As she was stepping out of the bathroom she dug through her purse for pain medication. The white bottle rattled as she pulled it out. She went about popping open the lid while walking into the kitchen. Two white pills were spilled into her hand as she grabbed a glass to fill with water. 

When she turned back around with the glass she found a few of the dwarves watching her. She raised her eyebrows in question as she popped the pills into her mouth. They were washed down with the water, but she could take them dry if needed. She had plenty of time to learn how with how often she had to take allergy medicine while traveling. 

"What?" She stuffed the bottle back in her purse before dropping into a seat next to Oin. The bag on her back had her sitting on the edge of the seat but she didn't care much. 

"What was that you ate?" Bofur asked. He was stuffing something into a pipe but looked over at her. 

"Pain meds. For my hangover," she said. She reached a hand out to grab a piece of toast off the table. The dwarves looked at each other for answers but received none. Amber rolled her eyes before swallowing what was in her mouth. "There these pills that are made of hard compact chemicals. They stop whatever pain I have."

"I have herbs for that," Oin said. A laugh escaped Amber and she started to shake her head. 

"I have no doubt you do. But my meds work better than any of that. I've had practice with other forms of medication, and they don't work as well." She finished off her toast and downed the rest of the water in her glass. Oin grumbled next to her but didn't say any more. 

Amber sat with them at the table until Thorin called for them to leave. She tapped her fingers on her thighs as she tried to steel her nerves. This wasn't the first time she'd been on a trip like this; but it was the first in this world. And this trip could very likely kill her. She didn't know much about fighting or killing. The most training she has is self defense classes that she took in high school. If she made it through the first week she would make sure to ask one of the dwarves to train her. She already had a weapon with her, she just didn't know how to use it. 

Outside the Hobbit hole the sun was shining brightly over the horizon. Amber had to pause on the doorstep to take in the beautiful sight. Over the years she has seen magnificent views and this was aiming to be one of the best. If she had thought about it she would have brought out her camera but instead she carried on down the steps. The dwarves were climbing up onto their ponies and strapping down certain items. 

Amber had rode horses and mules before but never a pony. It wouldn't be hard to learn how they moved, so she didn't have any problem with them. She found herself sitting on one of the pack ponies and walking in the middle of the group. The dwarves talked and made bets among each other while she carried on next to them. She already knew Bilbo would show up but didn't find it fair to place a bet. Though she did give Bofur a wink when he said Bilbo would join them. 

While the dwarves chatted, Amber carried on in silence. She didn't have much to say to them and they didn't have anything to say to her. Or so she had thought. It wasn't until after Bilbo had joined them and the sun was starting to lower in the sky. They were planning on stopping in Bree for the night, but they still had a while to go. Amber was combing through her ponies mane when someone rode up next to her. 

"Miss Amber?" The quiet voice got her looking over. Ori was riding next to her with a curious but shy look on his face. Amber didn't say anything but inclined her head to show she was listening. "What happened to your eyes?" It her a moment to understand what he was asking before she was laughing. 

"Nothing happened per se. It's called heterochromia." She turned to face him fully and allowed him to see her two different colored eyes more clearly. One was a shining blue while the other was a reddish-pink. "It's when someone is born with two different colored eyes. Quite a few people have it, it's just not as noticeable in some. While mine are two completely different colors, some people have different shades of the same color. Or even only part of one eye colored different." 

Next to her, Ori was writing down as much as he could in his book. Amber smiled at him before looking at the rest of the dwarves. They weren't paying attention to them but she only needed on in particular. She had noticed it last night when they introduced themselves. It was her job to notice the smallest of details, and the prettiest, so it wasn't terribly hard to find it. 

"Hey, Nori!" Her call got the dwarves looking back at her. She and Ori were at the back of the group with only Fili and Kili behind them. The dwarf in question was looking between her and his little brother with suspicious clear on his face. "Come back here for a moment. We need you for a second."

"What?" Ori looked over at her in confusion then at her brother. The other dwarf was slowing down his pony until he came to walk just behind them. 

"What is it?" Nori asked, still suspicious of her. Amber shifted on her pony until she could see his face fully. The shining green eyes that she noticed the night before were trained on her. One was darker and had spots of brown that were almost unnoticeable. 

"Just something I wanted to show your brother," she said. Ori turned to look at his brother but couldn't find what she did. She sighed and reached out to touch the side of Nori's face. 

"What do ye think you're doing?" He leaned away from her hand and glared at her. 

"Let me point out something. It won't take long." She beckoned him closer with her fingers until he followed her movements. Nothing was said as a shock traveled between the pair when she touched the side of his face. She tilted his head sideways until his eyes caught to light of the dying sun. 

"Oh." Ori's quiet voice got Amber smiling at him. He leaned closer to his brother before moving to write something else down. Amber took another moment to continue looking at Nori before letting go of his face. 

"You have some of the prettiest eyes I've ever seen," she said. And they really were. A deep green color with the slightest bit of brown in the left eye that positively burned in the sunlight. She had taken several hundred pictures of different eyes in her life and Nori's were a pair of the prettiest. 

"Thank you?" His puzzlement brought a laugh from Amber. 

"It's a compliment. I've seen a lot of eyes in life, but nothin like yours. So count yourself lucky." She turned back around to face Ori once again. "See, his eyes are the most common form of heterochromia. Mine are a bit different because one eye completely lacks in melatonin. That's the reason it's red and more often than not I have a sensitivity to light."

"Does it hurt?" Ori asked, already over his brother. 

"Not usually, no." 

From there the talk continued into something else with Nori surprisingly joining in. Amber was content to talk with the brothers until they reached Bree. They placed their ponies in the stables at The Prancing Pony before heading inside the inn. The smell made her grimace but she carried on with the dwarves. When she was younger she might have wanted to be in this inn but at the moment she didn't care for it. The only thing that brought it back from the edge was the bar cat. 

The large black creature was quick to join their table. It hopped over mugs and plates until it stood in front of her. Amber smiled at it and reached out to let it smell her fingers. A moment went by before it was rubbing its face along her fingers. She pulled the cat off the table and into her lap to continue petting it without getting cat hair everywhere. It purred and nipped at her fingers before settling down in her lap. She felt the dwarves looking at her but she paid them no mind as she started humming. Some stupid pop song was stuck in her head and showed no signs of leaving. 

Around her the dwarves continued to eat and drink like there was no end. Amber scrunched up her face against the smell coming from the rest of the room. Over the years she had to deal with nasty smells and disgusting places, but that didn’t make her immune to their effects. She sighed and glanced to where the stairs were leading to the rooms. Gandalf had been kind enough to take care of paying for her, and she was ready to disappear into her room. The night was wearing down on her despite the fact that it couldn’t have been past eight. Something about this place drained her energy more than any place she had ever been before; and if she wasn’t so tired she would have questioned it. But as it was she was ready to just pass out and sleep for the next year. 

Without bidding anyone goodnight, she set the cat back on the table and disappeared into the crowd of people. She made it to the stairs without a problem and up into her room just fine. Her stuff was already sitting on the ground and she was quick to slip out of her jeans into a pair of sleep shorts she had packed. It didn’t take but a second for her to fall into the bed and pass out. 

A shudder hit Amber hard enough to wake her. She sat up so fast her wakening vision darkened once again. For a few seconds she wondered what had woken her up but she couldn’t find anything amiss. Instead of pondering, she got out of the bed with a stretch that made her bones crack. She looked out the window to find the sky still dark without a hint of it lightening for a few more hours. A groan slipped from her mouth as she made her way to the door. There was no use just sitting in the room when she knew she wasn’t going to be getting back to sleep any time soon. 

The entire building was silent except for the scurrying of mice and a few quiet snores. Amber wrapped her arms around herself before making her way down to the bar. She knew nobody was going to be down there, so she was free to play with the cat by herself. The black creature was napping on the bar when she stepped down the stairs like she knew it would be. It lifted its head and meowed at her but made no move to get up. With a soft laugh, she stepped up next to the bar and sat down on a stool. Her hand went out to pet the soft fur while purring started up. She kept her touch light and undisturbing to avoid riling the animal up enough to fight. 

For maybe an hour she sat down with the cat. But soon enough she was yawning again and ready to go back to her room. She whispered her goodbyes, for this was probably the last time she was to see the animal, before starting back up the stairs. It was still quiet but the hall was no longer empty. Amber paused at the top of the stairs at the sight of one of the dwarves leaning against the hallway wall. It was too dark to see who exactly it was, but she had a feeling that it wasn’t one of the nicer ones. And her feeling was proven right when a pipe flared up enough for her to see Dwalin’s face. Something close to a groan left her mouth. She had no desire to deal with the stubborn dwarf at the moment. 

“What’re you doing?” She asked, despite wanting to just pass him by. His head snapped over to her direction as if he hadn’t known she was there. Which was a possibility but she wouldn’t count on it. She went up the last step and joined the dwarf in the hallway. 

“I could ask you the same,” Dwalin said. Amber paused for a moment to look down at him before mirroring his position on the other wall. His eyes burned into her but she paid them no mind. 

“Something woke me up, and I couldn’t get back to sleep. You?” She had no real desire to talk but something kept her from venturing down the hall. 

“It is no concern of yours.” The grumbled answer got her tilting her head to the side. She narrowed her eyes slightly to see him in the dark to find him not even looking in her direction. His attention was elsewhere in the hall. 

“Well, aren't you just a bouquet of roses this early in the morning,” she said. The use of the word rose got Dwalin looking back to her. She could feel his confusion and mounting irritation towards her. “Get some sleep.” With her last words, she started back down the hall to her room. That dwarf really needed his beauty rest if he was going to be this cranky for the rest of the journey. 


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning Amber found herself riding next to Bofur. She was content to just let him talk while she listened quietly. He carried on a conversation like she was actually joining in. As it was, she just listened and hummed a song to herself. If Bofur noticed he didn’t say anything and just asked some meaningless question about her home that she bypassed. She may not be able to lie, but she didn’t think they were ready to know about where she came. There were so many things she has on her person that could ruin their views of the world and she wasn’t quite ready to do that to them. But if they came across them, they she wasn’t going to lie about it.

“What’re ye humming?” The question got her looking over at the hatted dwarf. He was watching her with a curious sparkle in his brown eyes.

“Just a song stuck in my head.”

“What is it?” Amber looked up to the sky and contemplated ignoring him. But she could never do that, and she enjoyed singing. With a nod to herself, she looked back to the dwarf with a grin growing on her lips. She didn’t say anything as she started clapping out a very specific beat that she memorized years ago. The dwarf next to her watched her curiously before copying her movements. When he got it down she gave him a nod and grin before clapping out a second, softer beat for herself.

_I got my ticket for the long way ‘round _

_Two bottles ‘a whiskey for the way _

_And I sure would love some sweet company _

_And I’m leaving tomorrow, wha-do-ya say? _

Amber found the upbeat song the perfect one for this trip. It was just bright enough to make others happy and super catchy. For the longest time, she used to sing this song every time she went on an extended trip.

_When I’m gone _

_When I’m gone _

_You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone _

_You’re gonna miss me by my hair _

_You’re gonna miss me everywhere, oh _

_You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone_

_I’ve got my ticket for the long way ‘round _

_The one with the prettiest of views _

_It’s got mountains, it’s got rivers, it’s got sights to give you shivers_

_ But it sure would be prettier with you_

Around her a few of the other dwarves had joined Bofur in the clapping. She could feel their eyes on her but couldn’t find it in herself to care. There was something so freeing about singing to your heart's content without a care or worry in the world.

_When I’m gone _

_When I’m gone _

_You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone _

_You’re gonna miss me by my walk _

_You’re gonna miss me by my talk, oh _

_You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone_

With the last line done, Amber bowed slightly on her pony. She sat back up to give Bofur another wide grin. He was already grinning at her and it brought a laugh out of her.

“That was great, lass.” Bofur praise made her grin widen and another laugh to slip past her lips.

“Well, I’m glad you think so.” She didn’t see herself as a good singer but has been as such for most of her life. Not that she had ever been taught, she had never sought out a teacher or a profession in it. Her passion has always been in photography and she was sure it would never change.

For the next couple of days things went by smoothly. Amber was drawn to the stunning scenery that they passed with nary a thought to anything else. The rolling hills and bubbling streams kept her thoughts from wandering past their beautiful borders. Even the towering rock faces that they had started to climb held her rapt attention. There was something so freeing and enjoyable about being out in the middle of nature in a place one had never been. With the sunlight bearing down on her, she had no problem.

It kept her pleasantly warm for she still only found herself in tank tops. Even as she knew that summer was ending the sun still kept her from getting out the cloak in her bag. When she had first started packing for her camping trip she couldn’t fathom why she would pack such a thing. There were several things that she packed that she couldn’t find a use for in the near future. One of the many things being the sword that she had strapped to her pack. It seemed as if her body and mind worked together to prepare her for something that she had yet to know was coming. Her subconscious worked to make sure she was taken care of without even knowing why it needed to do so. And if she stopped long enough to think on it, she wouldn’t have liked what she found.

Instead, she preoccupied herself with unloading her pony. The company had decided to stop on a cliff face that was high enough up that one could see the tops of trees below. Amber soon found herself sitting on the edge of the cliff and swinging her feet in the air. She may not have been paying much attention to where they were heading, but she recognized this area. It didn’t become clear until the sun had set and everyone had laid out to sleep for the night. A fire burned bright enough to illuminate Fili and Kili as they took the first night's watch. The feeling of its warmth on her back was nice but not enough to fight off the sudden chill that swept through.

She wrapped her arms around herself and continued to watch the night sky above her. It wasn’t cold enough for her grab her cloak just yet. As it was, she was content to watch the stars. Every single one of them was unfamiliar to her; well passed the constellations that she couldn’t name, there were just the small, piling, stars that she couldn’t find recognition in. It didn’t stop her from searching and wondering well past what her mind thought capable. Her eyes traveled from where the Milky Way used to stand to where the North Star used to burn. Nothing but unfamiliar stars stared back at her. She looked for the Sagittarius constellation that should have still been high in the sky. When that didn't give her what she wanted she searched out the Draco and Hercules constellations. Sliding her eyes over the stars, she couldn’t find a single thing she recognized.

An ache sprung up in chest that hit her hard and fast. It brought tears to her eyes and started a sob crawling up her throat. Everything she knew was different. The burning of stars that weren’t hers blurred before her. Their cold, unrecognizable, light was blocked out by the tears. But that didn’t stop her from gazing up at them. The longer she looked and searched for something she knew she wouldn’t find, the worse the ache got.

A sob escaped her mouth just as the screeching of orcs started up. She had not a care for the creatures in the land below for her attention was still on the unattainable above her. Behind her the princes started talking, but she could barely hear them over her own thoughts and feelings. Even as she knew her searching was for naught, she still looked. The blurring of the stars didn’t little to settle her need to find her stars. Another sob left her before she could stop it. Her chest ached with a drowning sadness that she knew wasn’t going to be leaving anytime soon.

Steps sounded as someone came to stand at the cliff edge with her. She didn’t care who it was or why they were there. All she cared for was the stars and the overflowing thoughts on why she couldn’t find what she longed so much for. Tears continued to drip down her face - into her hair- and blocked the sky from her sight. The moon’s glow was the only light that could reach through the blur. But that didn’t stop her from tilting her head up farther to look for the Ara and Apus constellations. Their spots missing from the sky did little more for her than hurt. She could feel her body shaking with sobs even if they were silent now, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care.

A single clear thought flitted past her mind. She had something with her that would numb her thoughts and emotions for a long while. Her body was moving faster than her mind could process what was happening. Tear tracks ran down her face that continued to fall as she crawled towards her purse. Inside was a baggie of weed strong enough to knock her off her feet well into the next afternoon. Trembling fingers pulled the bag out along with a glass pipe and a lighter. She sat back on her heels as she fumbled to break apart the weed enough to stuff it into the cold pipe bowl. The end of the pipe was placed between her lips while one hand held it up and the other tried to flick the lighter.

“I don’t think you need to be smoking right now, lass.” A hand came to rest on her shaking shoulders. Another came to cover her fumbling fingers that still tried to get the flame to spark. The dark gloves did well to stop the flame from popping up or even for the lighter to spark.

“No! Don’t touch me!” Her cry was near silent, but didn’t hide any of the desperation within. The hand on her shoulder didn’t move, nor did the one holding her hand. She sobbed again but allowed whoever it was to push the pipe and lighter back into her purse. Without the distraction she wanted, she dropped her head to chest and cried. It hurt so much to be in this world.

“What’s wrong, lassie?” The soothing voice was quiet as to not disturb her too much. She swallowed thickly before looking back up. Balin’s face wrinkled with concern in the moonlight. Her eyes moved past him up to the cold stars.

“T-the stars.” She nodded up to the sky until Balin followed her gaze. But she could tell he wouldn’t understand what was wrong. “They’re not the same. Not my stars.”

“What do you mean?” The innocent question brought another sob from her. It truly was an innocent question for he had never known stars other than those above him. And he likely never would. Would never not know the burning orbs in the sky. Would never have to search out his constellations. Would never know what it was like to be trapped underneath someone elses sky.

“These aren’t my constellations. No Milky Way or Northern Star. No big or little dipper. It’s not even the same moon shining up there.” She could feel the tears still running down her face, but the sobbing had come to a stop. It did little against the ache burning so bright in her chest that she thought she could see it, though.

“How about you get some rest, lass?” Balin’s quiet dismissal of her stars had a sobering thought crossing her mind. They would never understand.

Instead of saying any more, she moved out from his grip and towards her pack. She could hear him sigh and start back across the camp, but she couldn’t find it herself to care. Whatever he thought was no concern of hers. She would mourn the loss of her stars even if the dwarves thought her crazy. And come what else she might be missing, she wasn’t going to shy away from the sorrow that would plague her.

The next day found her smoking while riding just behind Dwalin. All the dwarves were taking to avoid talking to her after the breakdown she had. She didn’t know what they thought caused it, nor did she care. As it was she was doing fine with her weed and singing to herself. The second she was up on the pony she was lighting up the glass pipe despite the curious and concerned glances she received from the dwarves. She had caught Balin discussing something with Thorin that morning and heard her name slip between them. All it did for her was make her ignore them more than she was already planning.

If she had more care for the well-being of the dwarves around her, she would have stopped smoking after the first puff. But as it was she was going through the entire bowl and created a dense cloud of smoke behind her. She knew all about the effects of hot boxing and second hand highs, and couldn’t find it herself to worry about the dwarves. The weed smoke would either affect them or it wouldn’t. If it did then it was no longer her problem, and if it didn’t then what was the worry. But she could hear the dwarves behind her conversing about what she was smoking.

“It’s marijuana if you must know,” she called. Her voice raising high enough to be heard over the dwarves. She didn’t bother turning to look back at them but she knew their gazes were trained on her. “Or Mary Jane if you prefer. I do believe you lot would call it Old Toby, though.” She could gather from the movies that it was more than likely weed Gandalf was always smoking.

“It’s never smelled like that, lass.” Nori said, noting the bitterness in the air.

“Because the process used to gain mine is much different from that of yours,” she said. And probably grown in cleaner fields than her world could possibly muster.

“Aye, but it shouldn’t smell that different.” Bofur’s words got her sighing and laughing to herself. If he really didn’t believe it, then he would just have to partake. She slowed her pony down enough to ride between Nori and Bofur.

“Then take a hit and tell me what it is.” She held out the glass pipe to the hatted dwarf with a sly grin growing on her lips. Just as the dwarf took the pipe a protest started up from the younger dwarves.

“Why should Bofur get to try it?” Kili asked. Amber rolled her eyes and shook her head good naturedly.

“Because you haven’t been smoking as long as he has.” She glanced back at the young prince then to Bofur. “And I’m sure he’s going to be knocked on his ass after this too. Can’t imagine what it’d to you.” A smattering of laughter came from behind her as she held out a hand to Bofur. Her lighter was in her hand and ready to be lit. “Cover that little hole on the bowl and release when you’re ready to breath in.”

She got a nod before she sparked the flame and burned the top of the weed. The bowl had just been loaded for she was about to hit it once again. Her hand pulled back and she waited for Bofur to clear the smoke in the pipe. The removal of his finger over the small hole had the weed smoldering for a second before going out. But that small amount of burning allowed for a massive cloud of white smoke. Bofur started coughing before all the smoke was even out of his lungs. Amber found herself laughing so hard she nearly fell off the side of her pony. For some reason she had thought that Bofur could hold it together better than he had. Her free hand went to pat his back while the one with the lighter grabbed the pipe back before it could be dropped.

“You gonna be alright?” Her words were colored with laughter that Nori was joining her in. The star haired dwarf was laughing so much he was leaning to almost fall off the pony underneath him.

“What...What in Mahal’s name is that?” Bofur’s question was broken by another hacking cough. If Amber didn’t know better, she’d said he was close to puking.

“Exactly what I told you it was. Though it’s probably a lot stronger than the stuff you’re used too,” she said. It was even strong for her if her willingness to share the weed was anything to go on. “I’d keep an eye on him.” She leaned over to Nori to whisper to him. Bofur was going to be feeling the effects in close to ten minutes with how big the hit was.

“Aye, I can do that,” Nori said. Amber gave him a nod and patted Bofur on the arm before moving back up to the front of the company. The four back there could have their fun with the weed effects; she was going to sit through her high by herself. Or so she thought.

Her high was just reaching its peak when she rode up next to Dwalin. Her weed addled mind had a question that needed answering and a favor all in one. She blinked a few hairs out of her eye before turning to look at the dwarf. He wasn’t looking at or even showed that he knew she was there. But even with her brain in a fog, she knew that the warrior would forever know when someone was around.

“Would you teach me how to fight?” From next to her Dwalin jerked his hands back just the slightest for her to know she had caught him off guard. “I know next to nothing about handling a weapon.”

“Aye, the wild is no place for gentle folk.” Amber looked to him only to find him watching the path ahead of them. She hummed to herself and tapped out a beat only she would know with her fingers.

“And that I am, for the most part.” She pressed back on the memories and images of carnage she has seen before this point. Traveling around the world as a photographer brought one to many places, and not all of them being nice to stay in. “But I’m here with a sword I don’t know how to use.”

“And what would you have me do about that?” Dwalin asked, not much caring for her words. She could tell he didn’t want to help her, but she wasn’t going to let the opportunity slip by.

“Teach me anything you’re willing to. I know this world is likely to kill me with or without training. I’d just like a fighting chance,” she said.

“You’re nothing more than a mouse out here.” Amber glanced back over to the dwarf to find him looking at her with hardened eyes. They seemed to stare right through her body and into her soul. “First encounter with an orc will end in your death.” She held his gaze unwavering even as her heart started to pick up speed in her chest.

“Will you teach me?” The two of them continued to have a stare off until Dwalin finally turned away.

“Aye.” His agreement brought a grin to Amber’s face as well as a pleasant laugh. “But I will not go easy on you.” Even with his warning, she couldn’t find herself to care. She was going to be trained to fight.


	4. Chapter 4

That night found Amber sitting next to Bofur after dinner. He was still coming down from his high and she was enjoying laughing with him. The both of them were in the middle of a song that only Amber knew the lyrics too. She was singing to her heart's content while Bofur played his flute. The song was just as upbeat as the one she had sung the other day and captured most of the dwarves’ attention. Her long hair was out of its restrictive bun and laid in two thick braids over her shoulders. The long pink strands glowed in the fire light but despite how pretty they looked, they weighed down her head.

Before any of the real danger started she would have to have it cut. It was far too long to be helpful and would only aid in her downfall should it be grabbed. And no matter how much she would long for it back, she knew there wasn’t a choice. All she had to do was find someone who could cut the long strands and not make it look bad.

Amber picked up a braid just as her song came to a close. She pinched the thick pleat in between her fingers before tossing it over her shoulder. The other was soon to follow and thumped on her back heavily. Her arms went above her head to stretch out her muscles before dropping back into her lap. Next to her Bofur was talking about something unrelated to the song just sung. Whatever it was she wasn’t given the time to join in. Something was dropped into her lap from over her shoulder and drew her gaze towards it. Sitting in her lap was a small dagger with a well worn hilt.

“We’re starting small.” Dwalin’s voice had her tilting her head back far enough to catch sight of him. Her head bumped into his stomach but she could see his unamused face staring down at her.

“Cool!” Amber scrambled to her feet with the dagger clutched in her hand. She had learned enough from her dad to not point any weapon unless she intended to use it and for that the blade stayed pointed towards the ground. While she didn’t know how to use a sword or any other bladed weapon, she knew how to shoot a gun. But that information was all but useless to her at the moment.

Dwalin lead her to the edge of the clearing that they had set up camp in. The fire light still glowed bright enough for them to see each other mostly clearly. She had a feeling Dwalin could see her better than she could see him. Her eyesight may be good, but not enough to rival that of a dwarf used to the dark. Upon instruction she started to wind her braids back up into a bun to avoid fighting with them. She could feel his eyes following her movements but paid him no mind. It took her longer than she wished to admit to put her hair up.

When she was done Dwalin went about asking her questions to test how much she actually knew. Which she would be the first to admit was not much. Once he too discovered she knew nothing, they spent the next couple of hours just doing the correct positions. She never would have thought that just holding up a dagger would make her arms tired. But by the time Dwalin let her go, her arms were burning and ready to fall off. Well, she knew they weren’t but that’s what it felt like. She also knew that she was going to be put through hell by the stubborn dwarf.

**I’m gonna pause you right here. Under no circumstances are you to believe that I was training for anyone other than myself. At this time I didn’t give much a fuck about the dwarves. Sure, I grew up with them and watched the movies when they came out. But I knew that their stories had nothing to do with me. It didn’t matter that I was there, I wasn’t going to do anything to alter the story. I was learning to fight purely for myself and making sure I stayed alive. You may carry on. **

Each day that they stopped for camp Dwalin was sure to pull her aside to continue with her training. She admittedly wasn’t getting much better. There was something about working with a blade that was stopping her from improving. She couldn’t figure out what it was, but Dwalin was getting fed up with it. This exact session was going worse than the last few as her hand let go of the dagger sliding out of her grip. It dropped to the ground through Dwalin’s arms and landed between their feet. Amber sighed and stepped back from the block she was in.

“This isn’t working,” she said. Her fingers tapped on her thigh restlessly as she watched Dwalin pick up his dagger. He looked from the blade to her tapping fingers with a few mutterings.

“You have too much energy.” Amber followed him as he placed the dagger with the rest of his armor and weapons. After the first real fighting session he had taken to removing the protective gear as she had complained about it. It bit into her skin and made her irritated.

“No shit, Sherlock,” she muttered. A glare was shot over to her but she ignored it. “How do you propose I lose it? Cuz what I have in mind isn’t going to work out here.” A sly grin was on her lips even at the dark look she was getting. He could believe whatever his mind supplied him, but what really meant was a trampoline. When she was given the chance she would seek the nearest trampoline park to let off her excess energy.

“Do you have any self-defense training?” The question caught Amber off guard and had her tilting her head to the side. What did that have to do with her energy?

“A bit. But it’s been several years.” Several as in close to ten years since she’s had the classes.

“Then we’ll work on that,” Dwalin said. He cracked his knuckles and earned him an uneasy grin from Amber. She was going to get slaughtered before she could even land a punch. It didn’t matter that she was a couple inches taller, Dwalin weighed twice as much as her and all of that was muscle. Whatever she remembered from those classes was going to be for naught against the dwarf warrior.

“I’m gonna die,” she muttered to herself. “You’re going to kill me.” She said louder for Dwalin to hear. A deep chuckle greeted her words but he didn’t deny her words. She watched as he dropped into a fighting position and stared back at her.

Amber shook out her limbs and readied herself to be laid flat on the ground. Her eyes traced over Dwalin’s features in the fire light and brought herself to a stop. A long time ago she had trained her brain to seek out interesting and beautiful sights. To find the hidden gems in any place she could. To pick out even the smallest of details. And her brain decided it would find these things in that moment. The fire lit up a shine in Dwalin’s dark eyes that she could have sworn wasn't present a second ago. It highlighted his definitive features but didn’t over shadow the rest of him. What really caught her attention was the fact that he was relaxed. She couldn’t recall a time in her memory, movie or otherwise, that the dwarf was anything other than ready for a fight.

Her thoughts were put to a stop when he started moving. At first she couldn’t remember what they were doing until his shoulder slammed into her chest. A wheeze left her as her hands reached out to grab his shoulders before she fell to the ground. They missed and she left to fall to the grass with a thump. Thoughts and moves raced through her mind until her legs kicked out to hit the back of his knees as hard as she could. She barely caught sight of the surprise on his face before he too was falling to the ground. The second his back hit the grass she was up and pressing her knees on his arms to hold him down. She planted herself on his chest and crossed her arms under her breasts.

“I do believe you cheated,” she said. His eyes looked up to her with an unreadable expression in them.

“And yet you are the one on top.” She narrowed her eyes down at him but remained where she was. This was probably going to be her only time of winning against him and she was going to remain in it for a while longer. But her plans were cut short when a hands wrapped her thighs. “Next time, put your knees on the elbows.”

That was all the warning she received before she was being tossed off of his chest. A cry of surprise left her as she rolled into the grass next to him. She huffed and crossed her arms again as Dwalin sat up. That was entirely unfair. She voiced as much but only got a half laugh in response before Dwalin getting to his feet. He held out a hand to her - and after forgetting that she was to be avoiding touching her hands to his bare skin - that she was quick to grab a hold of.

A shock resonated through Amber’s body as she was hauled to her feet. But it wasn’t the same one that happened with the others. While it still had the bite of unexpectedness, it didn’t have the sharpness that made her want to scramble away. It rushed through her skin like the heat of a fire after being out in the cold for hours. Not necessarily burning, but not exactly comforting. The sensation that followed is what made it different. Instead of continuing to burn, it settled into a pleasant tingling over her skin. But the feeling didn’t last long as Dwalin ripped his hand away from hers.

“What did you just do?” His voice was low and vaguely threatening, but Amber paid it no mind.

“I didn’t do shit. It happens to anyone that I touch or their hand touches me.” She snorted and shook her head and arms, trying to rid herself of the tingling. Her eyes met Dwalin’s to find him suspicious and searching.

“We have touched before this, and that never happened.” The slightest bit of confusion slipped through his voice that made her pause. They had touched during her training, but even searching her memories she couldn’t find a time either of their hands touched the other’s body.

“The hands!” Her exclaim had a few of the other dwarves looking over to them, but she paid them no mind. “It’s all in the fucking hands. Whether it be mine or someone else's.” She held up her hands for a moment as emphasis before dropping them. Whatever was going was mighty odd and not entirely pleasant. “Huh, never thought this would be my life.” She looked back up from the ground to find Dwalin still glaring at her.

“Right, we still gonna train or?” Her question was left open for Dwalin to decide on what to do. For a moment he just continued to glare at her before turning away.

“We’ll work more tomorrow.” Amber watched as he moved to sit down next to his older brother before shrugging. It wasn’t any of her business if he was grumpy. She spun on her heel and went to place herself down next to Bofur as he smoked his pipe.

Amber had lost track of how long they had been traveling. There wasn’t any specific days or weeks, but she was sure it had been close to a month since they set off. But she couldn’t be sure because her period hadn’t happened. Not that she wanted it too, she would probably die out in the wild if she was bleeding out for a week. Despite that, she really kind of forgot that this wasn’t just a fun trip. Her training with Dwalin was going better after they started working without weapons. At the end of each session she was exhausted, probably more than she should have been, and ready to sleep for the night.

They had, had fair weather for the most part of their continued journey. A few cloudy days but nothing that dampened anyone’s mood. That was soon to change as a light sprinkle started the second they started through a thick forest. Amber never found rain to be a problem and enjoyed sitting outside during rainstorms. And because of that she was happily humming to herself as she slowly but surely got soaked. The song wasn’t the happiest but she couldn’t bring herself to stop humming the beat.

_All I am is a man _

_I want the world in my hands _

_I hate the beach _

_But I stand in California with my toes in the sand _

_Use the sleeves of my sweater _

_Let’s have an adventure _

_Head in the clouds but my gravity’s centered _

_Touch my neck and I’ll touch yours _

_You in those little high-waisted shorts, oh _

Her singing gained a few short looks from the dwarves that she was around. But she didn’t care and started to add in a little beat with her hands. It wasn’t nearly as loud as she usually was, something about the forest making her quieter.

_She knows what I think about _

_And what I think about _

_One love, two mouths _

_One love, one house _

_No shirt, no blouse _

_Just us, you find out _

_Nothing that wouldn’t want to tell you about no _

_‘Cause it’s too cold whoa _

_For you here and now _

_So let me hold whoa _

_Both your hands in the holes of my sweater _

The rain continued to drip down her face as she bobbed her head to the beat in her head. Long strands of pink lay plastered to her face and water soaked into her hair. The few even paying attention to her were watching her with bewildered looks; not quite sure what she was singing while also not wanting to believe what their minds were telling them it was.

_And if I may just take your breath away _

_I don’t mind if there’s not much to say _

_Sometimes the silence guides our minds to _

_So move to a place so far away _

_The goosebumbs start to raise _

_The minute that my left hand meets your waist _

_And then I watch your face _

_Put my finger on your tongue _

_‘Cause you love the taste yeah _

Several protests started up from the older dwarves riding around her. Mainly Dori, but she ignored them with a wink and joking grin aimed at the younger dwarves next to her. Fili and Kili were on either side of her and laughing at Dori’s protests for her to stop singing. She knew very well what the lyrics meant but she enjoyed the song too much to stop for one dwarf.

_These hearts adore, _

_Every other beat the other one beats for _

_Inside this place is warm _

_Outside it starts to pour _

_Coming down _

_One love, two mouths _

_One love, one house _

_No shirt, no blouse _

_Just us you find out _

_Nothing that I wouldn’t tell you about, no no _

Her singing lowered the slightest bit as she finished the last of the song. She never much cared for how repetitive the chorus was at the end and always cut it short. Only Fili and Kili clapped for her as the others went about ignoring her. If only to keep Dori off her back she didn’t sing any more songs like the last one, but she continued to hum to herself.

For probably the first time in her life she was getting fed up with rain. It had rained constantly for two days already and showed no signs of stopping. She had been forced to put on her white cloak to keep her hair from soaking up any more water. As it was, the mass of pink hair was weighing her head down even kept in a tight bun. Her neck was hurting as was her scalp from the pressure the hair caused. She had already come to the decision to cut it when they settled for camp that night.

They were camped underneath a thick canopy of tree branches to try and keep the rain off their backs. Amber was half asleep by the fire as she tried to brush through her hair. The long strands were tangled and kinked from being stuck in a bun for almost three days. There was already a big clump of hair next to her from having to clean out the brush twice. She was slowly but surely working out the worst of it. Her fingers were cramping and her whole body was vaguely uncomfortable after spending close to an hour working on her hair. A tired sigh left her mouth as she dropped the brush to the ground by her feet. The worst of the tangles were gone and she was ready to pass out for the night. But she still needed to ask one of them cut her hair.

“Do any of you know how to cut hair?” The question startled a few of the dwarves from their dozing. Amber looked around the fire to see if anyone was paying attention.

“Why would ye wish to know something like that?” Bofur asked, looking over to her. He was sitting next to her smoking his pipe and close to falling asleep himself. Amber turned to him with a mild scowl on her face.

“Because I can’t be out here any longer with my hair as it is. My head’s gonna fall off with how much water it holds,” she said. The long strands still had water dripping from them despite being out of the rain for at least two hours. To show him what she meant, she picked up a giant chunk of it and tossed it to him. His hands went up to catch the hair before it hit him in the face.

“Aye, it’s still drenched,” he agreed. He pinched a small section at the bottom and both of them watched as several drops of water fell to the ground.

“I’m sure Dori will help you.” Nori said, watching the water leak out of her hair. Amber looked to him with a slight grimace on her face. She was pretty certain Dori hated her. Her eyes moved to where the older dwarf was sitting with Ori, deep in conversation about something.

“Are you sure you want to cut it?” Bofur asked, still twining her hair between his fingers. “It must’ve taken ages to get it this long.”

“Six years and shit ton of hair products to keep it this nice,” she said. She pulled her hair out of his grip and back into her lap. “If I was back home, I wouldn’t even consider cutting it. But this is nowhere even close to home.”

“Where are ye from, lass?” Amber turned her head to across the fire where Oin was sitting.

“Not here, that’s for sure.” She said, dismissing the question. The dwarves didn’t need to know where she was from even if they pestered and asked. At first she didn’t care if they knew where she was from, but after spending so much time with them she wished to keep the fragile trust that’s been built. “Right, to ask Dori to cut my hair.” She slapped her legs before pushing to her feet.

Her hair brushed the ground as she made her way to the other side of the camp. A few of the dwarves watched her pass but they didn’t care what she was doing. When she neared Dori and Ori their conversation came to a halt. She pulled her hair over her shoulder and came to stand in front of the pair.

“Will you cut my hair?” The question brought a confused look to Dori’s face.

“Why?”

“It’s too long to be out here,” she said. She looked down to the strands that now reached the ground. “So, will you cut it?”

“Sit down.” Amber followed Dori’s instructions and sat down next to Ori. “How short do you want it?”

“Only to my waist. Don’t think I can part with all it just yet.” She pushed the hair back over her shoulder and felt it pool on the ground. There was a shuffling behind her until she felt someone picking up a good chunk of hair. Her shoulders were tense but kept still as Dori cut through the pink strands.

It took close to ten minutes for her hair to be done. Amber was nearly asleep when Dori said he was done. She shook her head and turned around to find a giant pile of pink hair sitting next to them. A wave of sadness washed over her at seeing so much of her hair gone. It had been years since she had it cut and even longer since it’s been shorter than her butt. Her hands pulled most of her hair over her shoulder and ran her fingers through the shorter strands. It reached her waist like she had asked. With a quick thank you to Dori, she was back by the fire and more than ready to pass out.


	5. Chapter 5

“Here! Mister Gandalf, what can you do about this deluge?” Amber just barely heard Dori shout to Gandalf from her place at the very back of the group. She was hunkered down as far as she could in her cloak to hide from the rain. It was colder than that of a few days ago and her blue tank top wasn’t cut out for it. 

Whatever conversation was being held at the front of the group, she couldn’t hear it. Of course, she knew what they were saying. It was honestly one of the best parts of the first movie in her opinion, but that was probably because she enjoyed Radagast. But instead of trying to hear Gandalf, she focused on trying to stay awake. For the last week or so, she had been more tired than she should have been. Without the training sessions with Dwalin, because of the rain, she should’ve had enough energy to stay up well into the night. But come midday she was ready to sleep until the next morning. It concerned her, but not enough to ask Gandalf about it. She was more than certain she could tough it out until at least they got to Rivendell. 

Along with not having training sessions, it left her time to think about her world. After that night on the cliff she refused to look at the stars in fear that she would break down again. Her chest ached every time she thought about her world and forced her to try not to think of it. She refused to pull her cameras or phone from her purse just in case she started crying again. For the most part she stays out of her purse unless she wants to smoke, but she’s almost out of weed as is. All if it just left her upset and snappy. 

Surprisingly the rain came to a stop by midday and the sun was shining bright through the trees. They came out of the forest just as the sun was starting to lower in the sky. Amber took one look at the burned down shack and sighed. This was going to be a long night. She watched Gandalf and Thorin argue with a disinterested eye that followed the wizard back into the forest. As orders were set into motion by Thorin, she sat down on a warm boulder to get some sleep. The rock was warm and with the sun shining down her clothes were drying out; all of which made for a nice place to nap. 

It well past dark when Amber was shaken awake. She groaned and started to roll over only to find the edge of the boulder. Before she could fall to the ground two hands wrapped around her arm. A shock that burned through her skin had her sitting up and brushing off the offending hands. Her eyes opened to find Nori looking down at her. Another groan left her mouth as she stretched out her tired muscles. She yawned before sliding off the rock to join the dwarf in the grass. He said something about dinner but she was still in the process of waking up. 

She sat down next to Bifur just as a bowl was shoved into her hands. Her mismatched eyes blinked down at the soup then up to Bofur. A lazy grin was all that was offered to the dwarf before she was sipping on the bowl. Around her were conversations that she couldn’t quite hear. She yawned again and rubbed at her eyes to try and wake herself up. After her nap she shouldn’t be this tired still. But she was still close to falling asleep even as she knew what was about to happen. Of course, she knew everything was going to work in the dwarves’ favor so she couldn’t bring herself to worry. Even with her added into the mix there probably wasn’t going to be much change as long as she didn’t do anything drastic. 

So, when Fili came back to camp shouting about trolls all Amber did was yawn again and grab her sword. It was heavy in her hand but not enough to make her drop it. The blade itself was only about as long as her leg and with the hilt it reached up a little past her hips. Around her the dwarves we getting ready for a fight while she just trudged along behind them. When they burst out of the bushes, Amber made sure to stay on the edge of the clearing. She was useless in a fight even when she wasn't tired, and she knew it too. The most she did was slice at a troll foot that came to close to her hiding spot. But in her sluggish movements she didn’t notice the troll coming up from her side. At least not until its thick hand wrapped around her body. A shocked cry left her mouth as she was lifted into the air and another troll joined in her holding. Hands were wrapped around her limbs and held her above the fire. 

“Drop yer arms or we’ll rip hers off.” Amber scrunched up her face in annoyance at the troll’s words. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go, but it wasn’t so far off script to cause worry. 

“Put me down you overgrown gnome!” Her words did little to deter the beings holding her. She huffed and looked down to the dwarves. They were watching her and the trolls equally, irritation clear on most of their faces. Whether is was aimed at her or the trolls she didn’t know.

Much like how it was in the movie, Thorin stuck his sword in the ground followed by the others throwing their weapons in a pile. Amber couldn’t help the smile at seeing Ori toss down his slingshot angrily. It didn’t take long for the trolls to stuff half the dwarves into sacks and tie the other half to a spit. Amber was placed on the spit despite her cursing and struggling. If she wasn’t awake before she definitely was now. The fire was hot and she was uncomfortable being tied up underneath Bofur. The trolls had been nice enough to leave her in her capris but they forced off her cloak and blue tank top. Both articles were in the pile with the rest of the dwarves’ clothes. But even with her top gone the fire was still much too hot to be comfortable. 

“This is hot.” The slight innuendo didn’t get anyone other herself to laugh. She knew that things were going to work out so she wasn’t worried. 

“How are ye so calm with this, lass?” Bofur asked from above her. 

“If you worry you suffer twice.” She quoted from Newt Scamander. It was honestly good life advice, but it didn’t make the dwarves feel any better. She shrugged the best she could when Bofur said that wasn’t helping. What more was there to do?

“You know, I once had a dream about being roasted on a spit,” she said. They had time to kill and she was actually awake enough to hold a good conversation. “It was much nicer than this though. Not nearly as hot or dark. I think it was sunny outside on a beach.”

“What’re you going on about?” Dwalin asked, next to her on the spit. Amber turned her head to look at him the best she could. 

“A dream. About being cooked alive,” she answered. “This honestly isn’t that bad. They could’ve just killed us right off the bat.” All she received from the dwarf was grumbling that she couldn’t make out. “Oh, lighten up you thorn bush. We’re not dead yet.” 

“No, we’re just being slowly roasted.” Nori said from her other side. Amber looked over to him with a grin on her lips. He tugged at the bonds holding him down sharply. 

“Exactly! Not dead yet,” she said. The dwarves above her grumbled at her but refused to acknowledge that she was right. 

Amber hummed a song to herself as they turned again. Her eyes followed the fire underneath her then the trees and sky before going back to the fire. It snapped and popped when one of the trolls added a few more giant logs. An ember jumped up out of the fire to land on her cheek. The slight sting had her pausing but not long enough to stop her song. All of this repetitiveness was actually making her tired again. She had to shake her head and move her hands to keep from falling asleep.

From the pile of dwarves still on the ground, she heard Bilbo shout for the trolls to stop. Amber nodded to herself and tugged at the ropes holding her hands. They were starting to chafe and rub harshly on her bare wrists. The ropes holding her arms and legs were doing no better, but she wasn’t pulling on them near as much. She was thankful the trolls let her keep her yellow socks on even if her sneakers were pulled off. A sigh left her as she half heartedly listened to Bilbo trying to tell the trolls how to cook them. She really just wanted to put her clothes back on and go to sleep. But she knew sleep wasn’t going to happen for a long while. They still had the whole day ahead of them. 

She didn’t even notice when the spit stopped turning. It wasn’t until her bonds were being untied did she realize that Gandalf had showed up. Gloin helped her down from the spit and cut the rope on her wrists before moving to help the others. She rubbed at her wrists and arms to soothe the angry skin. A chill swept passed her body and brought a shiver to her. She moved for her clothes quickly to try and fight the cold that had started. While she pulled on her top and shoes she watched Gandalf tap on one of the trolls’ head. It made a hollow sound that had her laughing quietly. 

After tying on her cloak, and grabbing everything left behind at the camp, she followed after the dwarves. She knew where they were going and she honestly wanted to look inside the troll hoard. There wasn’t going to be anything she needed but it would be a once in a lifetime experience. Gandalf moved a bush to the side and walked into a somewhat small clearing. A strong scent of decay hit Amber and almost had her gagging. She didn’t expect it to smell so bad. A large hand landed on her shoulder and pulled her to a stop. Spinning on a heel, she came face to face with Dwalin. They had moved past the weird shock that kept her from actually fighting after the first incident.

“Don’t ever leave your weapon behind.” He held up the sword in his hand. Amber gave him a sheepish grin before taking the weapon back. 

“Right. Thank you,” she said. It was slid back in the scabbard on her back before she started into the troll cave. 

The smell was so much worse inside that out. Amber had to keep a hand over her nose and mouth to keep from puking. Gandalf said something that she didn’t bother listening too. She came to a stop behind Gloin as Bofur kicked open a chest. 

“Seems a shame to leave it laying around,” Bofur said. He turned around to give them a mischievous grin. “Anyone could take it.” Gloin nodded along with the hatted dwarf as he toed a pile of coins next to him. 

“Nori.” The star haired dwarf turned back to them as Gloin called his name. “Get a shovel.” 

Amber shook her head at the dwarves and moved to poke around the piles lining the cave. There wasn’t actually much that she wished to mess with. All of it smelled terrible and was buried in layers of dirt, and something that she was sure were bones. Her hand brushed aside a thick layer of dust sitting on a chest. She flipped open the lid and crouched down to dig through what was inside. Most of it was old necklaces and rings, but down at the bottom were a few pieces that caught her attention. There was a matching set of bracelets made out of jade and possibly gold, a ring that had seen better days, and a single earring. She gathered up the items and stood back up. She was honestly in need of a change in earrings and the rest she couldn’t bear to leave behind. 

“Leave a woman to find jewelry.” Amber snapped her head over to where the voice had come from. Dwalin stood next to the other dwarves with his arms crossed and watching her. 

“Yeah, well, I’m drawn to shiny things, sue me,” she said. She slid on the bracelets and ring before coming to stand in front of the dwarf. Her eyes looked down to the three covering up their chest and offered Bofur a grin when he looked up. 

She turned back to the earring still in her hand. The dangling piece wasn’t anything she’d seen before. It was a round band of metal but inside was a white gem that had several other colors bursting out of the center. The band was connected between two small chains that had pieces of thin metal on either end than went through the ear. Amber spun the earring before lifting her other hand towards one of her ears. She actually had multiple piercings in her ears she just had a set of small topaz earrings in at the moment. She pulled the back off of the earring in her left ear and took the gold metal out of her ear. 

“Hold this.” Her hand went out to Dwalin with the small earring in between her fingers. The dwarf looked from her face to her hand before sighing and holding out his hand. Amber grinned at him and dropped the small earring in his palm. She went back to pushing the new earring through the correct holes in her ear when Thorin called for them to leave. 

Completely forgetting about the small earring that Dwalin now held, she bounded out of the cave. Her new earring sparkled in the light and bounced against her neck. She came to stop next to Bombur while breathing in the clean air. The slight breeze felt nice on her skin and brought a grin to her lips. Behind her she could hear the other dwarves coming out of the cave but another sound caught her attention. A crashing coming through the forest that had Thorin calling out and them all moving through the trees. Amber knew who it was and followed behind without drawing her weapon. There was no point when there was no immediate danger.

"Thieves! Fire! Murder!" The cry from Radagast had the company coming to a stop. The sled led by giant rabbits carrying the brown wizard leapt through the bushes; landing in the middle of the group. 

"Radagast." Gandalf's use of the wizard's name had some of the dwarves relaxing. 

Amber watched the wizards converse until they wandered away from company. She hummed quietly and stepped up the small incline to join Ori and Bifur in watching the ponies. There was little desire to deal with the first two wargs that were bound to show up. In avoidance of that, Amber found herself sitting on a rock next to Ori. The young dwarf was sketching something in his book. From the looks of it, it was a portrait of someone. 

"Who ya drawing?" Her question startled the dwarf into slamming the book closed. She raised her eyebrows at him when he looked up to her. 

"No one," he said. He got a hum from her and a slight nod of her head. 

"I believe you." The joking tone in her voice earned her a smile. 

They fell back into silence as Amber went back to watching the ponies. She didn't find it nearly as interesting as she thought she would. Ori was still drawing while Bifur was off to the side looking at a peculiar bush. A sigh slipped past her mouth as she dropped her head into her hands. Any left over adrenaline from the fight with the trolls was all but gone. She was left tired and quite ready to get in a nap. But she knew that wasn't going to be happening anytime soon. 

Silence reigned for a few more minutes until a howl started up. The ponies perked up and just as the second howl started they bolted into the forest. Bifur shouted after them in Khuzdul before the three of them raced back to the group. Amber skidded to a stop next to a body of a warg just as Ori told the others about the ponies. She nudged the beast with a foot to make sure it was really dead. Seeing the animal so still brought a small amount of sadness to her. She hated to see dead animals. 

"Who did you tell of your quest? Beyond your kin." Gandalf's question aimed at Thorin had everyone turning to him. He was walking up the hill with Radaghast behind him. 

"No one."

"Who did you tell?!" 

"No one, I swear it." Thorin looked from the wargs and company to Gandalf. "What in Durin's name going on?"

"You're being hunted," Gandalf said. 

Amber couldn't find in herself to even act surprised. They were honestly stupid if they didn't think that someone was going to figure out what they were doing. She only nodded to herself and watched as Radagast took off with his rabbits. Then she was off running behind Bofur through the trees. For dwarves they kept a pretty decent pace through the forest and out into the plains. Amber wasn't much of a runner but she could keep with most others when the time called for it. And she had no plans of getting eaten by an overgrown dog. 

The sun shone high in the sky as they stopped behind yet another boulder. Even knowing how this chase went, Amber was still unimpressed. Her legs were burning and sweat was making her clothes and hair stick to her. She was thoroughly disgusted by the time she was forced to press against another stupid rock. An angry huff left her but it was covered by the sound of something climbing the rock behind them. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to remember how this went. 

She wasn't given time to recall as Kili stepped out and shot an arrow. A screech sounded from above them before another arrow was shot; bringing the monstrous creature and its rider to the ground. Bifur and Dwalin made quick work of dispatching the orc and warg, but not before their shrieks caught the packs attention. 

"Run!" The shout from Gandalf had everyone sprinting in the opposite direction of the boulder. Amber followed through the open fields with curses filling her mind. She really wasn't cut out for this. 

The company soon came to a stop has their cover of rocks slowly but surely ran out. Only one pile of rocks remained in the field. They were becoming trapped as orcs started to close in from all directions. Amber heard the dwarves shout about Gandalf and the orcs, but ignored them. Something felt different about this scenario. A dark feeling was bubbling in her gut, trying to tell that something was wrong. Her eyes searched the gathering orcs to try and find what was off about them. 

A shout from behind her had her looking over her shoulder. The dwarves were dropping behind the rocks like she knew they would. Her feet moved her back towards them even as her eyes trained back on those in front of her. When a hand wrapped around her pack she was quick to shrug out of the straps. She couldn't find what was wrong and she wasn't going to drop into the cave until all the others already had. There was a shout of her name from Thorin that had her turning around fully. 

It was then that she saw the difference. A single orc was notching an arrow into a bow that was pointed straight at Thorin. For the first time on this journey panic rushed through Amber's veins. This was not how this was supposed to go. She cried for him to move even as she was rushing towards him. Her body slammed into his just as the orc let loose the arrow. 

In all her movement the scabbard on her back had slipped to sit slanted on her shoulders. It was because of this that the arrow hit her square in the shoulders. Pain blossomed as her and Thorin tumbled down into the cave. Amber could feel the arrowhead digging into her spine and the loss of feeling in her body. She laid on the ground with her forehead pressed to the cold stone. Her back was on fire as her shoulders pulled downwards from the position she was in. If she could describe it, it would be close to that of a prayer pose. Her knees were tucked up underneath her body with her arms folded into her chest and her head pressed to the ground. 

Tears pricked her eyes as her chest fought for breath. She was panting and probably shaking. The arrow in her back continued to force a painful burn through the rest of her body. A sharp scent of blood hit her nose before she could feel it trickling down her shoulders. The smell had her choking on a gag as it brought up several memories of walking through destroyed villages. There had been a heavy metallic smell in the air along with that of burnt flesh that she had worked hard to remove from her brain. It seemed that her own blood was dragging up old memories. 

"What happened?" Amber heard the company above her talking, but she couldn't find it in herself to say anything. 

"I don't-" She heard a pause in Thorin's voice that betrayed his surprise. "She must have spotted an archer behind us."

"Is she alive?" Ori's quiet voice had the others quieting down. Someone dropped to their knees next to her and press their fingers to her throat. She choked on another gag, and seemed to give whoever it was a good enough answer. 

"Aye, that she is," Oin said. Amber barely turned her head to see his knees still next to her shoulders. Her eyes closed again against the pain. "But I don't know how deep the arrow goes."

Outside the cave the sound of a horn echoed, but nobody paid it any attention. Amber felt tears drip down her face to the stone underneath her. A set of hands were pressed lightly to her back next to the arrow. It went through her cloak to settled in her soft skin. The tank top she wore missing most of the back and left between her shoulders exposed. If she could think clearly enough she would be cursing her choice of shirts. 

Amber flinched as the hands on her pulled the cloak from her shoulders. It was brushed to the side of her and pooled next to her head. The hands moved back to the arrow and pressed and pulled lightly on the skin around the wooden shaft. She could pick up on the quiet mutterings of the group along with the sound of another language behind her. The hands were lifted off her back but she didn't hear Oin stand up. 

"I can't tell how far the arrow goes. But it is right above her spin." Amber screwed her eyes shut to try and stop the tears. "I can't tell the damage unless I remove it."

"Can you move, Miss Amber?" Gandalf's question brought another wave of tears down her face. She tried to move her fingers but by the silence around her she determined that she failed. She tried a few more times with her legs before shaking her head slightly. Her skin scraped on the stone but she couldn't bring herself to care. 

"Not good, not at all," Oin mumbled. His hands were back on her shoulders and one around the arrow shaft. "This is gonna hurt, Miss Amber." Before she could give a nod a searing pain shot through her shoulders. She could feel the arrowhead being pulled from her spine and out of her skin. A sour taste entered her mouth and soon she was dry heaving into the stone. Another pair of hands lifted her top half slightly off the ground just as she started to vomit. 

Around her the dwarves started making disgusted noises as her vomiting came to a stop. Whoever was holding her up obviously wasn't enjoying it if their noises of disgust were to go on. Amber panted and stared at the ground as her back continued to burn. She was honestly lucky it wasn't a morgul shaft like the one that Kili gets shot with. 

"Is she gonna be alright?" Amber shifted her eyes over to where Bilbo was standing. He was already watching her with concern clear on his face. She pulled on a shaky grin to try and ease his worries. She didn't know if she was going to be okay, but she could already feel her fingers again. 

"I don't know, laddie," Oin said. His fingers prodded around the wound before disappearing again. Amber heard a shuffling before something dry was pressed to her back. A hiss left her mouth that went ignored. She reopened her eyes and looked up to whoever was holding her up. Nori was doing his best to avoid looking down at her vomit. 

"Bag." Her pained voice had several of the dwarves startling. Their voices picked up in volume before they were silenced. "Yellow one." Her eyes roamed over the dwarves to where her pack was sitting on the ground. Her purse was strapped to the back of it in place of the sword now sitting by her side. 

"Aye, I got it." Bofur said while moving towards the pack. He made quick work of undoing the buckles and carrying the purse closer to her. 

"White bottle. Blue label." She nodded to the bag for Bofur to open it. If she wasn't in so much pain she would've had Gandalf go through the purse instead of one of the dwarves. 

Bofur gave her a nod before opening the purse. At first he paused and confusion colored his face. He looked back over at her but she refused to say anything else. Turning back to the bag, he dug past the cameras and phone until he found the pile of bottles at the bottom. He pulled all of them out and looked at their labels until he found the one with the blue. 

"Need two of them." She nodded to the bottle in his hands. Behind her, Oin continued to wrap something over and around her shoulders. Bofur looked back to the bottle in his hands but couldn't figure out how to open it. 

"How do ye open it?" His question brought a wet laugh from her. With the feeling still returning to her limbs, she lifted one arm out to him. When the bottle was placed in her hand she turned it around until the top was between her fingers. Her thumb pushed the top until the two arrows lined up before she shoved the top off. Her other hand came up to have two pills poured into the palm. She lifted her shaking hand up to her mouth and shoved the pills past her lips. Even in so much pain, she could still swallow pills dry. 

"I've done what I can fer now." Oin laid a gentle hand on her shoulder before moving to stand. Amber gave him a nod as she started to push herself away from Nori. He was still grumbling about the vomit but hadn't let her go thankfully. 

She could feel all of the company's eyes on her. Her arms trembled as she started to push herself up off the ground. Once up on her feet she stumbled to the side where Nori was quick to grab her again. With her back still on fire, she started on the trek through the cave passage that Dwalin found. She was leaning heavily on Nori's shoulder, but he had yet to voice a complaint. As it was, now that she was passed the major shock and pain of the arrow she could feel the slight burning sensation covering her skin from his touch. 

This was the most prolonged contact she'd had with one of the dwarves; and it wasn't exactly pleasant. Along with the burning came something that she couldn't quite name. It was like a feeling, but she knew it wasn't hers. It felt something like concern. Her eyes traveled from the stone path under her feet to Nori. His face was impassive but she could pick out the furrowedness of his eyebrows and slight frown tugging his lips down. He was concerned, and she could feel it.


	6. Chapter 6

Amber was able to walk alone by the time they exited the cave. Her legs were still unsteady and Nori stuck close to her side just in case she fell. A sort of tiredness settled over her body that made it hard for her to keep her eyes open. Several times Nori had to steer her away from a rock pointing out of the wall. She thanked him every time even if her voice too quiet to be heard. And every time he carried on like he hadn't done anything.

When they exited the cave tunnel Amber had to pause to take in the view. Even through her tired haze she could see just how beautiful Rivendell was. The kingdom was carved and built into the valley and made use of the several waterfalls around it. She was so distracted by the view that she didn't hear that Thorin and Gandalf were talking. The only reason she was dragged away was because Bofur reached out to pull her along.

The closer they got to the kingdom the clearer and more awake Amber felt. There was something in the magic of the place that cut through what had settled over her. By the time they were passing over the thin bridge Amber was making quiet conversation with Bofur. He was commenting on the architecture while she studied it. She was glad he didn't ask about the things in her purse because she didn't think she could bypass the questioning. Of course, he was going to ask at some point and she had to be ready to answer. But at the moment the two of them were joking about the elf statues.

Amber looked up from the dwarves as they came to a stop on the entryway balcony. She watched as an elf walked down the stairs to greet Gandalf by name. She couldn't remember his name or his job, but then again she didn't really care. The most she had cared for Rivendell was just how beautiful it was. Anything past that and she couldn't give a damn about it. Well, she really liked Elrond but not much of the other elves there. Out of all the elves, both in the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, Galadriel had to be absolute favorite though.

**Still is by the way. She’s a goddamn Queen. But the other elves grow on you eventually. I have to say that Rivendell rivals even some of the best cities and towns in our world. Especially at night. **

Her thoughts were cut short as she was shuffled into the middle of the company. A soft whimper left her mouth involuntary when one of the dwarves hit the arrow wound on her back. An apology came from Kili before she came to a stop in the center of the dwarves. All of them had their weapons up as several elves rode around them in full battle armor. Amber rolled her eyes at their theatrics and shook her head with a snort. Most creatures in Middle Earth had a tendency for theatrics and it kind of annoyed her.

She pushed her way out of the dwarves just as Elrond hopped down from his horse. Him and Gandalf were talking in Sindarin, and it had been several years since Amber had been fluent in it. She could pick out most of the words but she didn't think she could remember how to speak it.

Her eyes looked from the wizard then the elf as she came to stand next to Gloin. They lingered on Elrond for several seconds with her brows furrowing slightly. The elf Lord was much prettier in person. There was something about the movies that made Hugo Weaving look older than what she had pictured for Elrond; but being there in front of him was something different. He looked much younger than she knew he was. His face was smooth and unmarked like every elf's in the world, and there was just something that made him look younger.

Amber knew her staring had gone on too long when Elrond looked to her. She gave him a grin and partial wave when she caught his eyes. Something passed over his face but it was gone too fast for her to figure it out. It might have been confusion but she couldn't be sure. In any case, Elrond looked away from her as Thorin stepped out of the dwarves. She followed along with the conversation without input. It carried on like she remembered and ended with them being led into to kingdom.

As the elves were showing them their rooms, Amber made sure to grab her pack and purse from Bofur. They were placed in her room before she carried on with the others. She watched the dwarves turn their noses up at the rooms before putting all of their stuff out on a balcony just outside the rooms. Oin pulled her to a stop after things were put down to check on her wound. She untied her cloak and dropped it next to someone's pack before turning so her back faced the old dwarf. Her thoughts wander briefly to where her sword ended up until she caught sight of it leaning up against Dwalin's axes.

"Huh, yer injury isn't near as bad as it first was," Oin said. He pulled away the bandages and poked around the tender skin, bring a hiss from her.

"That's normally good news, Oin." She looked over her shoulder at the dwarf. He ignored her in favor of slathering some concoction on the wound. It was warm and stung the wound where it was placed. She voiced as much only to have Oin tell her to stop complaining.

Her wound was rewrapped before they were led to where dinner was being held. The balcony had several tables laid out with salads and other odds and ends covering the surfaces. Amber found herself seated next to Kili with Nori in front of her. Around her the dwarves complained about the meal while she munched on the lettuce in front of her. She honestly wasn't going to complain; sometimes having a salad just feels better after only eating meat for a while. The lettuce tasted so much better than anything like the leaves in her world. It was sweeter and cleaner tasting than the lettuce she was used too.

The elves on the balcony with them started playing their instruments just before Elrond entered. Flutes and harps harmonized to create a soothing and peaceful tune. While Amber wasn't necessarily bothered by it, a few of the dwarves were. She watched Oin stuff a napkin in his ear trumpet to block the sounds before catching sight of Nori packing away a shaker. Her gaze wandered away from the thief to the rest of the table. Bofur and Bifur were both eyeing the salads without much interest in eating it; well Bofur anyway, Bifur had a leaf hanging out of his mouth. When her eyes rested on Dwalin she found him watching Kili. Amber looked to the young dwarf next to her to find him winking at the elf maid behind their table.

"She's pretty." Her voice startled Kili into looking at the rest of the table. Dwalin and Bofur both were already looking to him.

"Can't say I fancy elf maids myself," Kili started, "much too thin."

"I find them stunning," Amber said. She tilted her head enough to give the elf maid a wink which got her looking away. When she looked back to the others they were watching with incredulous expressions. A grin was shot at them that had Kili turning away to catch sight of an elf walking behind them.

"Though, that one's not bad." He got the others' attention once more. Amber felt a laugh on her tongue as Dwalin went to speak.

"That's no elf maid."

They all turned to look at the elf now facing them enough to see that he was male. Amber joined the dwarves in their laughter as Kili grumbled to himself. She clapped him on the back before gripping his shoulder. He turned to look at her with a grumpy frown on his face.

"I'm sure he'd get to know you if you asked," she said. She winked at him as the dwarves started laughing hard again. Kili did his best to get out of her grip, but her fingers had tightened. Her skin was burning with his annoyance and growing laughter. It took her a second to release him and put her hands under the lap. She didn't know how to feel about knowing what the others' emotions were when she touched them. It was an odd situation and left her wanting to brush off her skin every time the connection stopped.

"Change the tune why don't you? I feel like I'm at a funeral." Nori's voice drew her attention back to the table. He was rubbing his ear while turning back to face her.

"Did somebody die?" Oin asked, not hearing the entirety of what was said.

"There's only one thing for it, lads." Amber watched as Bofur got up from the table and hopped onto the stone pedestal in between the tables.

She grinned and joined the dwarf in his song. The others stomped and clapped out a beat while they also tossed about the food on the table. Several pieces of lettuce were thrown at her courtesy of Nori and Kili. She only flicked small pieces at back at them as continued singing with Bofur. The song was loud and easy to follow even if she didn't already know the lyrics by heart. For several weeks after seeing the movie she was still humming the song.

A large clump of something resembling mashed potatoes hit her square in the face. Her voice cut off with a surprised laugh on her tongue. She reached up to swipe the mess off her face with both hands then looked in the direction it came from. Fili was laughing hard enough to start slipping off his seat. A fake scowl settled on her face as she stared at the Prince with narrowed eyes. It was honestly funny but she wasn't going to show that to him. His laughter settled down enough for him to finally look back at her. The look on her face brought him to a pause with a sheepish grin growing on his lips.

Her hand came up from under the table to grip the edge of her salad bowl. It wasn't heavy and easily tossed. The bowl was landing on Fili's head before he noticed what she was doing. A laugh burst out of her at the sight of a bowl sitting on his head, just barely covering his eyes. Amber was bent over the table in her laughter as Fili lifted the bowl from his head. Lettuce stuck to his hair and had whoever that looked at him laughing.

Their food fight and singing came to an end when the elves started shooing them off the balcony. Amber dipped into her room to grab her pack before she joined the others on the balcony. The sun was dipping past the horizon and casting an orange glow over everything. It was honestly a gorgeous sight but Amber was more focused on other things. Things being the alcohol in her pack. She sat down next to Bofur in front of a fire Bifur and Gloin were making. Her pack was set in her lap before she was unzipping it. Inside were four bottles of different alcohols. One was her half drank rum, there was a UV Cake vodka, Amaretto, and some fireball that she picked up on a whim.

"Whatcha got there, lass?" Bofur looked into the pack and stared at the strange bottles. Amber laughed while pulling them out and setting them down in front of her.

"Alcohol." Her pack was zipped back up and set down next to her. "Want to drink it with me?" She spun off the cap of her spiced rum and raised an eyebrow at him while taking a drink. He reached out to pick up each one of the bottles and studied the labels. She didn't know if he could read her written language like she could his.

"There's not much here," he said. He started breaking open the seal on the fireball with sure hands.

"No, but it'll knock your ass down if you drink all of if." Amber put her bottle back with the others and started twisting off the last two caps. She looked over to watch Bofur sniff at the fireball before taking a big swig of it. The second he swallowed it down he was pulling the bottle away and coughing a bit. All Amber could do was laugh at his red face.

"What is in that?" He set the bottle down next to the others with a grimace on his face.

"Cinnamon, that makes the spice in it." She took a small sip off it and screwed up her face at the taste. It wasn't bad, but she definitely didn't enjoy it.

"What're you doing?" Fili asked as he came to sit on her other side. She didn't say anything and just shoved the vodka bottle into his hands. He eyed the bottle then her before lifting it to take a drink. It was pulled away from his just after he took a drink. A disgusted look painted his face. "Why is it sweet?"

"It tastes like cake," Amber said. She took the bottle from him and took a large drink from it. It honestly was one of her favorite alcohols after her second eldest sister showed it to her. "Here." She handed it off to Bofur for him to try. Just like Fili, his face changed to disgust and the bottle was handed back to her. "You guys are picky." Her rum was handed to Bofur while Fili picked up the fireball.

"This one's better those other two." Bofur said, lifting the bottle up to read the label.

"I know, it tastes fucking amazing," Amber agreed. She took another sip of the vodka while Fili looked down at the fireball.

"It's odd, but not terrible." He put it back down to grab the large Amaretto bottle. Amber didn't like that one so much but her oldest sister did.

"Well, feel free drink as much of it as you want. I'll never finish them by myself." And like that Fili and Bofur were drinking with her.

At some point a few of the others grew curious and joined them in trying the alcohol. Each and every one that tried the UV said it tasted terrible and refused to drink it. Amber was content to sip on it while the dwarves went through the other three bottles. The dwarves that didn't at least try the alcohol were Balin, Dwalin, Dori, and Ori for Thorin had disappeared somewhere before Balin and Bilbo were dragged away by Gandalf. Amber knew what they were doing but she never found that part of the movie very interesting.

When the three other bottles of alcohol were running low Amber was climbing to her feet. The dwarves were laughing and having general fun in their slightly, or not so slightly in a few cases, buzzed states. Amber herself was edging on tipsy when she made her way to the railing. Dwalin was leaning against it while watching the others with a pipe in his mouth. He glanced over at her but didn't turn to face her. She placed herself next to him and took another sip of her bottle. It was a little under half-way gone and sloshed back and forth in the mostly clear bottle.

"I feel like you might be the only dwarf to like this one." She didn't look away from Fili and Kili fighting over the last of the fireball when she held out the vodka to Dwalin. When he didn't take it from her she hit his chest with the bottle until he did. It took a moment for the bottle to be pressed back into her hand.

"It's not the worst I have ever tried." Amber looked over to him to find him watching the fire. She grinned and took a large drink from the bottle. She turned back to watching the others while passing the bottle back to him. Like last time it took a moment for him to take it and then another for it to be put back. They passed the bottle back and forth for a few minutes before Amber was yawning.

"Here." She turned to face him and held the bottle out to him. When he grabbed it she reached her hands over her head and stretched even as it pulled on her arrow wound. She covered another yawn before shaking her head. "Since you have a sweet tooth like mine, I'm gonna leave that bottle here with you, Rose."

The nickname slipped past her lips before she could stop it. She honestly didn't care and was already moving away before he could say something about it. A wave was sent to the other dwarves on her way out of the balcony. She made her way to her room where she just barely stripped out of her jeans and tank top before she was passing out under the bed covers.


	7. Chapter 7

Sun was shining brightly in the early morning. All of the dwarves were sitting around the same tables from the night before. Breakfast was going much better than dinner. They were more subdued with the hangovers they were packing. Those that didn’t partake in the drinking were both laughing and partially scolding the younger dwarves. Thorin had already gotten onto his nephews along with several of the other dwarves. They should have known better than to drink in such a place. 

Where’s the lass?” The dwarves looked over to Oin. He needed to check on her wound but he couldn’t do that if she wasn’t there. 

“Still sleeping,” Bilbo said. “I heard her snoring when I went past her room.” 

“Leave her for another hour or two,” Balin said. The girl was probably still tired after all the running and fighting from the last two days. And it hadn’t passed his attention that she was always tired before the others. Since she hadn’t said anything he didn’t bring it up to her or anyone else. 

Come midday the dwarves were bored and ready to leave Rivendell. Gandalf had told them that they could leave tomorrow providing nothing happened. Bofur was tired of being in the same area for the last three hours and went off to find Amber. He came up to the room that the elves had given to her and stopped in front of the door. A soft snoring could be heard from inside the room. His fist came up to knock on the door and call out her name to awaken her. When he didn’t hear a difference from inside the room he could tell something was wrong. The lass had always been a light sleeper. 

He shuffled his feet for a moment before seeing if the door was open. It clicked and opened inwards with his slight push. Inside was like the other rooms with only a large bed on the back wall and a vanity near another door. Bofur took a hesitant step inside and looked up to the bed to see if he could find Amber in the mess of blankets. He had to move closer to see her head poking up on a pillow with the sheet pulled up over her mouth. She looked peaceful with her long hair spread out around her head. 

“Amber?” He called out to her and took another step closer to the bed. Something felt off about her. His hand went out to shake her shoulder while saying her name again. The smallest bit of panic bubbled in him when she didn’t move or wake. He tried to wake her up for another two minutes before he was disappearing down the hall.

His feet carried him back to the balcony that held the other dwarves. They all looked up to him when he skidded to a stop just in the entryway. Words were tumbling out of his mouth before he stepped closer to the others. He explained that Amber wasn’t waking up and that they needed Gandalf or someone that could help. Balin went with him to find Gandalf while the others went to Amber’s room. 

Oin stepped up next to the bed and went about checking the woman passed out under the covers. He went about checking for anything that could be physically wrong but came up empty. She was turned onto her side for him to check the wound on her back for any signs of infection only to find a smooth scar in its place. Surprise and confusion went around the room when Oin voiced this find. He was in the middle of removing the rest of the bandages when Bofur and Balin came back with Gandalf, Thorin, and Elrond in tow.

“Clear the room.” Elrond’s command had all the dwarves coming to a pause before they started shouting at him. 

“Out!” Thorin’s shout had all of the dwarves shuffling out of the room until it was just him, Gandalf, Elrond, and Bofur. The miner would have left if not for Gandalf stopping him. 

“Do ye know what’s wrong with her?” Bofur looked from Amber to the others with concern and hope painting his face. 

“Not at the moment, Bofur,” Gandalf said. 

Elrond sat on the side of the bed while the others stood around him. For several minutes he checked over Amber in silence. There was a certain prickly sensation in the air around the woman and had those in the room in mild concern. Bofur and Thorin could tell there was something different about her without knowing exactly what it was. The aura around her was just suddenly much more noticeable than it was before they entered Rivendell. Both Gandalf and Elrond had guesses on to what could be happening but were reluctant to say. 

“Bofur.” Elrond’s voice had the dwarf startling and looking over to him. “There’s a book in the library that could be helpful in this situation. Lindir is waiting outside. Go with him to grab the book off my desk. He should know which one I’m asking for.” 

Bofur looked from the elf Lord to his king to know if he should follow the order. Thorin dipped his head in acceptance and the miner was exiting the room. It was silent in the room for several moments until Elrond stood up. 

“She is not in any trouble, rest assured.” Elrond took another look at the woman before turning to Gandalf. “She cannot be who I assume she is.” His words weren’t in denial or upset; they were merely separating him from a small relief that was growing. 

“I do not know. It was not explained to me who she was,” Gandalf said. 

“Who is she?” Thorin didn’t enjoy being the only one left out of a conversation. Nor did he actually know who Amber was or where her home even was. Her and Gandalf had been very secretive and dismissive about where she was from. 

“That is what we are trying to find out.” Gandalf didn’t even looking up from the small spell he was using on the sleeping woman. “Her body is trying to become reaccustomed to Middle Earth. She has been here before.” He leaned back and wrapped his hands around his staff. His eyes sought out Elrond with a certain light of understanding coming into them. 

“Is it possible that she is from here?” All Elrond’s question brought was a slight hum from the wizard. 

“We have no evidence to suggest what you are thinking,” Gandalf said. 

“What is going on? You will explain all of this, wizard.” Thorin glared up at Gandalf as he crossed his arms over his chest. There were so many things left unexplained about this situation. 

“Miss Amber is not of this world.” All the wizard got from the dwarf king was a continued glare. “The Valar took her from her world and placed her here. Her body is taking time to grow accustomed to Middle Earth.” 

Silence reigned in the room for several seconds before Thorin was turning on his heel. He disappeared from the room without a word. Gandalf and Elrond shared a look before looking back down to Amber. She really did look at peace and happy bundled up in the bed with her hair a wild mess around her. The two beings continued to converse quietly until Bofur and Lindir were coming into the room. A thick book was in the elf’s hands before it was passed over to Elrond. Bofur asked about Thorin but his question went ignored in favor of Gandalf telling him that Amber was going to be fine and was just becoming used to the magic within Rivendell. The dwarf didn’t quite believe him but accepted what was given to him. He was shooed out of the room by Gandalf and left him heading back to the balcony. 

“How is she, laddie?” Balin asked when he caught sight of Bofur stepping into the light. 

“Still sleeping, but Gandalf said that she was in perfect health. Somethin’ about her body not being used to magic and this place,” Bofur said. The older dwarf look just as unconvinced as Bofur was back in the room. But he accepted the words and informed the others. 

Fili, Kili, and Ori tried to convince the older dwarves to let them see Amber, but they were denied. In fact, Gandalf entered the balcony and told them that she was going to need to be left alone until she wakes up. When he was asked about when that would be he refused to give a clear answer, because he didn’t know either. The dwarves grumbled to themselves but didn’t fight his answers too much. They were left alone once again in the balcony until someone suggested taking a bath. It wasn’t too much longer before they were all in a towering fountain. Talk of Amber was kept quiet and only between a couple of dwarves at time; for none of them knew how to feel about the situation.

Amber groaned and tried to roll away from the sun shining directly in her eyes. She pressed her face into the pillow to try and fall back asleep. But after a few minutes she realized that it wasn’t going to happen. For once she wasn’t tired when she woke up. In fact, she felt the most rested she ever had. It was pleasantly surprising. Her body was warm and didn’t ache with an arrow wound that she knew to be in between in her shoulders. With the comfort of the bed she found it hard to convince herself to get out of it. But her stomach was telling her to get off her ass and eat something. 

It took her a few minutes to put on a black tank top and a pair of light blue jeans; but once that was done, she was on her way out of the room. Her eyes roamed the hallway until they came upon the balcony holding all of the dwarves’ things. Only one dwarf was there at the moment. Amber found herself longing for her Polaroid camera at the sight before her. The rising sun cast a warm golden glow over the area. Out from the balcony railing was a beautiful view of the open valley with the light catching on a few waterfalls. But what really caught her attention was the dwarf in the center of the masterpiece. Dwalin stood leaning on the railing watching the sun with his back to the rest of the world. From her stop in the entryway, she could pick out only that he was relaxed and seemingly at ease in the light of a new day. 

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Amber picked her away across the balcony to come to stand next to him. Her eyes were watching the valley but she could just see him snapping over to her. “This is the type of stuff I live for. Just the right moment in the day where everything is picturesque.” 

“Yer awake.” The statement got her turning away from the sun. A laugh bubbled in her throat as her face kind of twisted up in confusion. 

“Yeah, I am not supposed to be?” Dwalin stared at her for a moment more before turning back to the view. She furrowed her eyebrows and went to say something else when he beat her to it.

“You’ve been sleeping for four days.”

“Uh, excuse me?” Amber tilted her head to the side to try and process what had been said. It honestly wasn’t too outlandish, just not entirely likely. “I’ve been in a mini coma?” A laugh escaped her as she shook her head. “Best damn sleep I’ve ever had then.” She stretched her hands out over the railing with a moan as her muscles loosened. She honestly felt amazing. 

“Though, I am fucking starving,” she said. Her eyes went to Dwalin only to find him still watching the sky. “Care to join me for breakfast?”

With her question answered, Amber found herself heading for Elrond’s balcony with Dwalin in tow. She chattered on about Rivendell even as she knew he couldn’t care less. It made her chest warm to know that he was listening to her without complaining or telling her to stop talking. She had buckets of energy and was close to skipping down the hall to release some of it. Instead of doing that, she swung her arms at her sides and they made their way down the halls. When they stepped out of the hallway and up onto the balcony, she was going on about the waterfalls and drew everyone’s attention to them.

“Amber!” Bofur’s shout cut her off and had her looking over to him. A bright grin was on her face at the sight of her favorite hatted dwarf. She bounced up the couple of steps to meet him, Fili, Kili, and Ori in the middle of the balcony. They engulfed her in hugs that was joined by Bifur while he carried on his Khuzdul. 

“I wasn’t gone for that long. A few days is nothin for me.” The dwarves pulled themselves from her and led her to sit with them. “I used to disappear for days on end back home when I was younger. It would always scare my mom and have her worried until I showed back up at the house.” 

“And where would you go during these trips?” Fili asked. Amber stuffed something that looked like a biscuit into her mouth and held up a finger for a moment to swallow. 

“Never far. Just down the road where my friend lived. That kid would lie his ass off for me when I showed up,” she said. The rest of the biscuit was put in her mouth as she watched the dwarves. 

“Where do you live?” Amber looked up to where Thorin was sitting at Elrond’s table. She could see something in his eyes, and knew the question wasn’t for personal interest. He knew. 

“Not around here, that’s for sure.” She tried to figure out how much he knew but she couldn’t find anything as he started to turn away. Her eyes found their way up to Gandalf to find him already watching her. He also had the look that he knew something, but what it was, she couldn’t tell. 

Breakfast carried on without any other questions concerning her home. She talked more about her family and friends than she ever planned too; but she found it easy to leave out the bits about her world. Which there were a lot of, but she made it work. After they were done eating, Amber found herself taking a bath in her room. It had been weeks since she had last washed off in a stream, and she felt quite disgusting. She almost dug out her travel soaps that she kept in her purse but didn’t need too when she found some in glass bottles on a shelf. They smelled of flowers and honey, and made her skin soft. 

Amber found herself sitting around a small fire on the balcony with the other dwarves around her that night. Gandalf had just told them that they had to leave before dawn and to wait for him in the mountains. It didn’t surprise her for she already knew, and she already knew what was going to happen up in the mountains. For some reason she was kind of excited to get started on their journey again. She couldn’t explain why but it made her skin tingle with excitement. 

“Ye got any songs in ya, lass?” Bofur asked. Amber looked over to him and gave a half smile. 

“Yeah, just give me a moment to think of one,” she said. She sat back and watched the fire while going through all of the songs she had memorized. There were only some that she could sing for the dwarves and it was hard to pick through them. Her eyes wandered over the dwarves to land on Gloin. His red hair brought a pretty good song to mind. “Alright, I got one.” 

“Let’s hear it then.” She shot a playful glare over to Nori before looking at the others. Most of their attention was already on her. 

_ A young man walked through the forest _

_ With his quiver and hunting bow _

_ He heard a young girl singing _

_ And followed the sound below _

_ There he found the maiden _

_ Who lives in the willow _

_ He called to her as she listened _

_ From a ring of toadstools red _

_ ‘Come with me my maiden _

_ Come from thy willow bed’ _

_ She looked at him serenely _

_ And only shook her head _

Amber could see that she had most of the dwarves’ interested in the song. She honestly loved the story it told, even if the end was a little sad. But the dwarves didn’t know about that yet.

_ ‘See me now, a ray of light in the moon dance _

_ See me now, I cannot leave this place _

_ Hear me now, a strain of song in the forest _

_ Don’t ask me, to follow where you lead’ _

_ A young man walked through the forest _

_ With a flower and coat of green _

_ His love had hair like fire _

_ Her eyes an emerald sheen _

_ She wrapped herself in beauty _

_ So young and so serene _

_ He stood there under the willow _

_ And he gave her a yellow bloom _

_ ‘Girl my heart you’ve captured _

_ Oh I would be your groom’ _

_ She said she’d wed him never _

_ Not hear, nor far, nor soon _

A few of the dwarves voiced protest against the willow girls refusal. It was mainly Kili. To which Amber turned a knowing eye to him but didn’t do anything to give away the ending. She knew at least someone would protests against the girl.

_ ‘See me now, a ray of light in the moon dance _

_ See me now, I cannot leave this place _

_ Hear me now, a strain of song in the forest _

_ Don’t ask me, to follow where you lead’ _

_ A young man walked through the forest _

_ With an axe sharp as a knife _

_ I’ll take the green-eyed fairy _

_ And she shall be my wife _

_ With her I’ll raise my children _

_ With her I’ll live me life _

Amber could see a dawning coming to the older dwarves faces. Something like disgust washed over many of the dwarves faces as they understood what the man was planning to do to the young girl. She looked over to Kili, Fili, and Ori to find they didn’t quite understand what the song was saying. It wouldn’t matter much in the end.

_ The maiden wept when she heard him _

_ When he said he’d set her free _

_ He took his axe and used it _

_ To bring down her ancient tree _

_ ‘Now your willow’s fallen _

_ Now you belong to me’ _

_ ‘See me now, a ray of light in the moondance _

_ See me now, I cannot leave this place _

_ Hear me now, a strain of song in the forest _

_ Don’t ask me, to follow where you lead’ _

_ She followed him out of the forest _

_ And collapsed upon the earth _

_ Her feet had walked but a distance _

_ From the green land of her birth _

_ She faded into a flower _

_ That would bloom for one bright eve _

_ He could not take from the forest _

_ What was never meant to leave _

With the song over, Amber sat back and watched the dwarves process the ending. Many of them had already guessed how it would end if their slight nods meant anything. What she was really interested in was how the three youngest were taking the ending. Fili was frowning at the fire while Ori was looking to make sure his assumptions were correct. Amber gave him a nod that had him turning to look at the others. The only one still slightly confused was Kili.

“Wait, so she died?” His question had Amber laughing softly.

“Yes, Kili, she did. She wasn’t supposed to leave the forest or her willow,” she said. The young dwarf frowned at the fire.

“That’s a terrible ending.” Amber laughed again and shook her head. That was just how the song went. 

It wasn’t too long later that Amber was back in her room. They had an early start tomorrow and she wanted to get as much sleep as possible. She wasn’t even all that tired but she knew that she needed to sleep. So, she stripped off her jeans and tank top before sliding into bed. For several minutes she laid there wide awake. No matter what she tried she couldn’t fall asleep. It was like her body had all the sleep it required and refused to get any more. After close to two hours Amber was getting dressed again and leaving her room.

Rivendell was just as pretty at night as it was during the day. The moonlight shone upon the stone structures and statues that made up the hallways. Amber was wandering aimlessly to try and tire herself. A hum was escaping her in the form of another song, but she knew better than to sing this late at night. She let a hand trail over a banister as she made her way down a set of stairs. They were underneath a bridge and spread out into wider steps down into a pond. It was absolutely beautiful with the crescent moon mirrored in the still water. She took a seat on the stairs with her feet dipped in the water and looked up to the sky. 

Her heart burned once again at the reminder that her stars were not there; but she would not cry over them again. Instead she tried to pick out constellations in the new sea of stars. It was harder than she thought it would be; finding what she knew not to look for. But it did not stop her. She leaned back on her elbows to get a better view of the sky only to catch sight of someone on a set of stairs above her. In the dark she couldn’t quite make out who it was, but the short stature suggested a dwarf. What they were doing up, she could not say but she was curious nonetheless. 

Pushing herself to her feet, Amber made her way back up the stairs. Her steps were light but heavy enough to not startle whoever she was coming upon. All that she could see in the dark was a back and long black hair. A sigh left her mouth as she recognized the long mass as Thorin’s mane. Being too far to go back, she carried on her way to stand next to the dwarf king. Nothing was said between them, but she could tell he was thinking hard on something. They carried on in silence for several more minutes just watching the sky until Thorin spoke up.

“Who are you? Without all of the shadows that you and that wizard seem to favor.” Amber tilted her head to the side but didn’t look to him. How to go about this question without revealing too much. For there were so many things that she couldn’t tell him; things that haven’t even been told to Gandalf. 

“I’m still Amber Rays if that’s what you’re wondering.” She said even though she knew that was not what he wanted. Before he could correct her, she carried on. “I don’t know how you found out, but you’re not wrong. My home and myself are not of this world. I actually live in this place called Salem, Oregon; on Earth. It’s nothing like this place other than the fact that humans used to fight much the same as you do. With swords and other melee weapons.” 

“How is it that you got here? And why was it of great importance for you to join us in retaking Erebor?” Thorin asked after a time. Amber looked down at him slightly while trying to decide how to answer. She honestly hadn’t a clue on either of the questions. 

“I don’t know. One second I was falling to a stone path and the next I was landing in the soft grass of the Shire. I never wanted to join you lot. Not an interest of mine. But it was either go along with Gandalf or eventually starve to death on my own.” She looked back out to Rivendell with a sigh. It really was never her interest to go off on an adventure with fairytale story characters. 

“Do you know of the importance of this quest? I will not stand for you doing anything to ruin our chances of reaching the mountain,” Thorin said. 

“Oh, don’t worry. I know plenty about what is going on and I have no wishes to mess up anything.” While he would not know what she meant, she certainly did. Under no circumstances would she allow anything to be altered in this story. It was already bad enough that she was there, but that archer in the orc pack would have ruined the outcome of this journey. No, she decided there, nobody would be dying on her watch and nothing was to be changed in the course of this adventure. 

“If it’s all the same to you,” she started. “I’ll be leaving you on your own.” She bid Thorin a farewell before trekking back to her room. Whether she was going to be getting any sleep remained to be seen, but she was going to try at least.


	8. Chapter 8

By the time Bofur came knocking on her door just before dawn, Amber had only been asleep for three hours. For some reason she didn’t feel the need to sleep for as long as she used too. It brought the slightest bit of concern to her, but she was quick to ignore it in favor of joining the dwarves. The sun was just starting to rise when they left the elven kingdom. Amber was at the back of the group and stopped on the stone path to gaze back at the valley. It looked absolutely stunning in the morning sun. 

With a glance at the dwarves in front of her, she started to search through her purse for the digital camera that was stored within. Her Polaroid one just wouldn’t capture the beauty she could see. The black device was soon in her hands and being turned on. A red light flashed to alert her of a low battery; to which she sighed for she had already guessed the battery would be either dead or low. She crouched down to the stone and held the camera up to her face. The image within the lenses was almost perfect and she took a few pictures before zooming in to get a close up on the architecture. Just after she got the picture she wanted the camera beeped and shut off. Rolling her eyes and grumbling under her breath, she went about stuffing the thing back in her purse. She could hear the dwarves calling back to her and stood back up to start following after them.

_ “I would have wished to meet you before your departure, Lady Amber.” _ A smooth woman’s voice echoed in her mind and brought with it the image of a blonde staring out over the rising sun. Amber knew immediately that it was Galadriel.  _ “You are something special in this world. It might not be clear to you as of the moment, but do not fear what you find.” _

Amber’s face scrunched up in confusion but before she could think of a question the presence in her mind disappeared. She looked back over the valley to try and find where the elf could have been. But when she came up empty she had to force herself to catch up with the dwarves. There were so many things she had to unpack in what Galadriel said, but for the moment what she could focus on was the fact the she wanted to meet with her. It was like a dream come true for the elf to even speak to her. She was giddy and smiling for the rest of the day even when the dwarves asked about why. 

When they settled down for the night Amber was forced back into her training with Dwalin. The dwarf refused to let her go soft despite the fact that she had always been soft. She had her hair up in a tight bun, which was easier now that it wasn't so long, and was still in her tank top and jeans. It had been taught to her early on in her high school self defense classes that it didn’t matter what she was wearing, for anything could happen at any time. The advice hadn’t left her head since starting training with Dwalin, but that didn’t make her enjoy working in jeans any more. The fabric was too constricting for her to move enough to avoid being hit. If Dwalin seemed to notice he paid it no attention. 

Amber stretched her arms over her head after Dwalin said they were done for the night. She was already sore, but not ready for bed. Her face scrunched up at the smell coming from her armpits and had her lowering her arms. The deodorant that she kept in her purse, and pack, were used often after each training session. The dwarves had asked about it once before when she brought it out, and she answered their questions on it. For some reason none of them smelled as bad as she thought they would. It was probably because they were made for traveling and deodorant was nonexistent in this world so they had to adapt. She was jealous, but she was getting used to the ways of this world. 

If she thought about it, she could probably guess how long they had been on this trip. When she first showed up in the Shire it was the middle of July. They had set out and she used to keep track of the days, but after starting training with Dwalin she came to a stop. What she had counted too was only two weeks. It had been over a month when the trolls happened, and with almost a week spent in Rivendell, it put them in the last week of August. Now, in the books and movies it was never explained what day Durin’s Day was exactly. Amber had spent massive amounts of time trying to find out when she was younger, but never really came up with an accurate day. Of course, she knew when winter started on Earth but she didn’t know if it works the same here. 

“What’re you thinking about?” Amber looked away from the fire to where Ori was sitting next to her. He had his book open in his lap with the half finished portrait of Gloin. 

“Oh, nothing really. Just how long this trip is gonna take,” she said. Her eyes turned back to the fire and propped her head up on her hands. “What about you? What’re you doing?” There was a shuffling next to her then the sound of his book closing. 

“Drawing the company. It gives me something to do when I finished writing.” Amber turned to look at the young dwarf with a smile growing on her lips. 

“Who all have you finished?” She nodded to the closed book in his lap. Ori glanced down then back at her before pulling it open. He turned a few pages until he came to a stop on a portrait. 

“I’ve done my brothers, Fili and Kili, Bilbo, Oin, and I’m working on Gloin.” Amber looked at all of the detailed drawings that Ori showed her. There were a few more drawings of landscapes that she caught glimpses of. 

“They’re absolutely amazing, Ori.” They honestly were. Amber couldn’t draw a stick figure if her life depended on. In her family, her father had been the artist along with her oldest sister, the second oldest couldn’t give a damn about the arts as she was more into sports and being an athlete which left Amber to take after her mom who couldn’t draw either. 

“Thank you.” They fell back into silence as Amber watched Ori continue to draw. She used to sit with her dad when she was younger to watch him work on masterpieces that would take up to weeks to finish. The same contentedness flowed through her as Ori’s charcoal scraped over the page making lines and shadings. 

When it became too late for Ori stay awake, he left Amber sitting by the fire. She said her good nights while looking into the fire. Her body still wasn’t tired and she was left wide awake. Thorin seemed to notice this and put her on first watch with Gloin. She only offered him a nod before going back to the fire. Around her the dwarves, and hobbit, fell asleep while Gloin sat opposite her watching the surrounding land. They were on the top of a small hill miles away from the Rivendell borders. Amber glanced to where the mountains were during the day and could only see faint outlines of black against the night sky. 

She looked away from the sky back to the fire. Her eyes caught a glance at Gloin sitting opposite her with something in his hands. It was rectangular and made out of metal that opened to reveal two drawings of people. Amber knew what it was and who was inside, but she wished to hear about if from Gloin. She looked from the pictures to Gloin.

“That your family?” She kept her voice quiet to avoid waking the others. The red haired dwarf snapped the locket closed and stuffed it back under his beard. 

“Aye.” That seemed to be the only answer she was going to get out of him. She offered him a smile before looking back to the fire. She didn’t know anything about his wife, but she probably knew more about his son Gimli than he did. Him, Merry, and Pippin were her favorites in the movies, while Aragorn was her favorite in the books. 

For the rest of the first watch the two of them sat in silence. Amber had gotten bored, but not yet tired, and pulled the one book she had in her purse out. The cover was missing from how many times she’s read it and half the pages had small rips and creases in them. She wouldn’t say it was were favorite, but it was the one that never left her purse. Stephen King’s  _ IT _ always took her so long to finish, but it kept her entertained for days on end. Gloin hadn’t asked her about it and neither had Nori when he took Gloin’s place. The thief had just sat beside her and watched the fire while she read. They carried on in silence for close to an hour before Amber closed her book, dog-earing the page. 

“What’re you gonna do when we reach the mountain?” She asked, even though she knew most of what was going to happen. Tolkien never said what the dwarves did after Dain became king other than Balin, Oin, and Ori going to take back Moria. 

“Go back to the Blue Mountains and do what I do best,” Nori said. Amber looked over to him with a small frown on her lips. She would have thought he’d stay behind to help rebuild Erebor; unless that’s what he decides to do after the line of Durin dies. “And yourself? Have any plans after reaching the mountain?”

Amber looked away from him back to the fire. She had kept herself from thinking about the end of the quest.There was going to be a giant battle that she couldn’t avoid unless she could find a way to get home before then. But she didn’t have a clue on how to get home.

“Go home, I guess. I mean, what else is there for me to do? I’m not a dwarf, I could never stay inside a mountain for days on end.” She didn’t look to the dwarf and they fell back into silence. She was right. There was no way she could stay inside Erebor for than a day at a time. Even if Thorin forbid her to leave she would find a way to be outside if she had to fight for it. Being out in the open was how she lived her life most of the time. She traveled the world taking pictures and staying in places that weren’t to be stayed in. The only time she spent an extended amount indoors was when she was back home. 

When Nori’s shift came to an end Amber decided it was time to at least try and get some sleep. She laid down in the grass next to Bilbo with her cloak wrapped around her body and tried to fall asleep. Four hours later and she was up watching the dead fire. The sun was just starting to rise and Bifur was on the last watch that lasted until morning. Amber sat next to the old dwarf and listened to him talk in Khuzdul and Iglishmek. She couldn’t understand a word but she was content to listen quietly. His story was just coming to an end when the others started waking up. 

Breakfast was quick and easy that had them on the road again in less than an hour. Amber found herself walking with Oin while he talked with Gloin. There was a question bouncing around her mind that she felt needed answered. 

“I hate to interrupt,” she started. Both dwarves stopped talking and looked over at her. “But, would you happen to know what happened to the arrow wound on my back?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea, lass,” Oin said. “It was completely healed when I went to check while ye were sleeping. Never in my years have I seen anything like it.” 

“That’s fuckin weird. I always healed faster than my sisters, but never like that.” Amber lifted her arm to try and feel where the arrow hit, but couldn’t even feel the scar through her shirt. “We should see if it works with other things.” She really wanted to see if it was a one off thing or if her body was super fucked up from being in Middle Earth. It would honestly be the highlight of this trip she could heal completely in less than twenty-four hours.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, lass.” Amber looked over her shoulder to find Bofur walking up on her other side. 

“Why not? The only way to figure out if it was a one off is to try it again.” She started patting her jeans pockets for anything to cut herself with only to come up empty. Bofur and Oin tried to talk her out of it as she dug through her purse. “Do either of you guys have a knife?”

“I’m nae gonna give you a weapon to hurt yerself with,” Oin said. Amber looked to Bofur only to get a no as well. She sighed and looked to the others to pick out if any of them would give her a knife. Her eyes caught sight of Dwalin walking with Fili and Kili just behind him. One of them would surely help her. If Dwalin didn’t then she knew she could convince one of the princes to give her one. 

“Amber.” Bofur warning did little to stop her from jogging to catch up with the other three. She could hear him talking to Oin but ignored it in favor of coming to a stop next to Dwalin. The dwarf looked over to her but waited for her to say what she wanted. 

“Will you give me a knife?” Her question earned her a frown and straight up no. “Please, I want to try something really important.”

“No. And begging for one is not going to change my mind,” Dwalin said. Amber groaned and dropped her head back to glare at the blue sky. 

“Here ya go, Amber.” She looked over her shoulder to find Fili holding out a small knife to her. 

“Thank you!” She grabbed the knife with a bright grin towards the young dwarf. He gave her a nod that earned him a glare from Dwalin. Amber held the knife away from the warrior to make sure he didn’t take it before testing the weight. It really was a small knife. She pushed her cloak off her arms and brought her left one up to meet the blade in her right hand. In a second she had swiped the blade over the back of her arm. It took a second for the blood to start to drip and in that second it seemed to process to the dwarves what she had done.

“What in Mahal’s name were you doing?” Dwalin took the knife from her hand while Kili asked the question all of them were thinking. 

“Oh, calm down. It’s barely a cut.” Amber let the knife go and held up her left arm. The blood dripped down her warm skin in a little trail down to her wrist. She pressed her fingers on the edge of the cut to see if it was healing any. At the moment it continued to leak blood down her arm. 

“Let me see.” Oin came to stand on her other side; the group having come to a stop because of the commotion they caused. Amber let him take her arm and start cleaning away the blood.

“I’ve had worse from my cat, chill out.” Her cat was the devil when it came to play time and would settle for no less than his victory over her. The tabby animal wasn’t vicious or anything, but he liked to win when they wrestled. She never spent as much time with him as she wished and both of them enjoyed whatever time they got together; even if half of it was spent playing. 

“What is going on here?” Everyone looked over to see Thorin coming to a stop in front of them. Fili and Kili shared a look before staring down at the rocks to avoid saying anything. Oin was too busy dealing with her arm to care while Bofur was coming to stand behind them. Before Dwalin could say anything she stepped in.

“An experiment.” Her words got a set of raised eyebrows and a want for more information. “That arrow wound on my back was healed in less than a day. I wanted to know if it was a one time, elvish magic thing, or if my body really is that fucked up.” She did her best to convey that it had to do with her other worldliness for this experiment just to get him to accept her answer. Something must have gotten through to him as he narrowed his eyes but gave her nod anyway. 

“Very well, but next time do it when we camp for the night.” Thorin started to turn away when Bofur spoke up.

“Thorin, ya can’t be serious?” 

“If she wishes to cause harm to herself for the sake of answering one question, then it is not my problem,” Thorin said. Amber gave the dwarves a triumphant grin when Thorin started walking away. None of them looked at her except for Dwalin, but that was only to glare at her. 

“Lighten up, I’ve done my test. If the cut isn’t healed by tomorrow then I know.” She gave Oin a grateful nod when he finished wrapping her arm. Normally when she gets a cut she just puts pressure on it until the blood stops then leaves it uncovered. But she couldn’t exactly do that out in the wild.

When they settled down to camp for the night, Dwalin refused to let her train with weapons. She complained but only got shot down again and again. They were working on disarming an opponent when you didn’t have a weapon. Dwalin had a sheathed knife while she was left with her bare fists and whatever she could remember from his teachings. If she was being honest, she was absolutely terrible at this. She had only got the knife away from him once and that was because she had forcefully tried to pull it from his hands. They had been working for close to an hour with barely any progress on her end.

Amber sighed and fell back on the grass. This was getting nowhere even if she could at least hold her sword correctly after so many sessions. She laid an arm over her face and groaned when she heard footsteps nearing her. A boot kicked her barefoot and made her curl her legs to stuff her feet under her butt. When the boot came to nudge her side she dropped her arm with a glare aimed up towards her opponent. He held out his free hand to her that she was tempted to ignore. But instead she pushed her legs back out and took the offered hand. A tingle rushed up her arm and brought with it his amusement and slight irritation at her. 

“Oh, quite your laughing.” She dropped his hand and crossed her arms. 

“I don’t believe I am,” Dwalin said. He mirrored her and both stood there staring at the other, waiting for one to say something. 

“I can feel you want to. And you might as well, I’m absolutely terrible.” She watched as his eyes narrowed at her in something that decidedly was not amusement. Before he could ask what she meant she continued talking. “Look, that little tingly shock thing as upped its game. I get glimpses at what others are feeling when I touch them. Figured it out after that arrow wound when Nori was helping through the tunnel. I could feel his concern and probably anger now that I think about it.” 

“Are you certain you are of the race of Man?” Amber tilted her head to the side and scrunched up her face at the dwarf. 

“Pretty sure. Unless my parents joking of me coming out of an egg are true.” At seeing Dwalin’s mounting questions, she laughed. “They used to tell all of us, my sisters included, that they found us in eggs on the side of the road. It would change up a few times with us being found under a rock or in a field.” 

“You have very…” Dwalin stopped when he couldn’t find the word he was looking for. 

“Strange? Odd? Weird?” Amber offered up the words for him with a shake of her head. “Trust me, I know. My parents are oddballs. My dad especially was.” The smile on her face faded for a moment at the reminder of her father, before she was laughing again. The old man would never settle if he knew she was getting upset think about his passing. “They were the weirdest people, but all of us girls grew up just fine.” 

She looked at Dwalin to find him looking unconvinced. She scoffed at him and laughed to herself. There were just some things that she couldn’t get him to believe. 


	9. Chapter 9

Amber was bored out of her mind. It had been almost two weeks since leaving Rivendell and they had just reached the base of the mountains. Like not even on the mountains themselves, but the wide open fields before it started sloping upwards. While it was beautiful, she was getting tired of walking. She had boundless amounts of energy but she really didn't feel like walking. Which was probably her boredom kicking in. 

A heavy sigh left her as she dug into her purse. If she just had something to do, then she would be fine. Her fingers pushed through her keys, wallet, pens, chapticks, cameras, pill bottles, something that could be a sweater, several pieces of paper, her book, and some extra Polaroid film to find what she wanted. At the very bottom of the purse was a pack of peppermint gum. It wouldn't keep her entertained for long, but it was better than nothing. Pulling out the flimsy package, she grabbed the only squished one. She just rolled her eyes before undoing the paper wrapper. 

The piece of gum was popped into her mouth and was soon followed by her blowing bubbles. Not the ones that come past your lips but those that happen in your mouth, and when you pop them they sound very loud. It was a trick she had learned from her mother so long ago. And the dwarves around were looking to find the loud pops; for they probably never heard gum pop before. Amber only gave them a finger wave and popped another bubble. 

It was all for naught though. Barely an hour later and she was bored again. Her feet protested against a very large rock that she kicked and refused to go on any longer. She groaned and shook her left foot. This little section of the day was really dragging on her. If she thought about it, it could be attributed to the fact that she knew what was going to happen when they reached the mountain pass. But there was no way she was going to think about that. Instead, her keen eyes trained on the warrior walking next to his brother. What one would describe as a devilish smirk crossed onto her lips as an idea formed in her mind. 

She weaved through the young princes and the Ri brothers to come up behind Dwalin. If he knew she was there he didn't acknowledge her. Her head tilted to the side before she was taking the last step needed to initiate her plan. A gray sneaker covered foot came to step on Dwalin's calf as the rest of her body launched into climbing up the dwarf. Several protests and threats left the warrior as Amber pulled herself up to his shoulders; taking care to avoid the axes and her sword strapped to his back. He had refused to let her have a weapon after her little experiment. 

"What in Durin's name are you doing, woman?" Dwalin asked, his hands automatically coming up to grip her legs so she didn't fall backwards. Her feet kicked out slightly and bounced just above his waist. His anannoyance was clear as day. 

"Getting a better view," she said. 

"I swear-"

"What?" She interrupted his starting rant. If one was let him carry on they could be stuck listening to him for hours. Her arms crossed over his head and dropped her chin on top of her wrists. Long strands of pink hair fell over her shoulders to brush Dwalin's face. "You'll what? Drop me? Push off to the ground?" 

"Don't tempt me, woman." Dwalin grumbled to himself but didn't make a move to do as she said. Around them the dwarves were laughing and making remarks at the warrior. 

"Aw, see, you don't hate me," she said. Her head tilted to the side and her hair fell over her shoulder like a waterfall. The soft strands hung next to Dwalin's face and laid on his shoulder as well. Even after cutting it, the mass of pink hair was still long and growing fast. Her hair had always grown faster than her sisters' and had them jealous of it. But now that she didn't have access to a salon she would have been able to see the blonde hair at the roots. 

"Put yer hair away, lass." Amber felt Dwalin's hands tighten on her calves and pulled her from her musing. She sat back up, off her arms, and looked down at the dwarf. What was wrong with her hair? It still brushed his neck and shoulder, and she could feel how tense he was. 

"Uh, sure." Her hands moved away from his head, trusting him to not drop her, and moved up to her hair. She split it down the middle and started braiding the two parts. 

It took her awhile but she was soon done. The two parts of her hair were done in thick braids. They were pulled slightly loose to make them look bigger and to not be tugging so harshly on her scalp. She had to stop in the middle to dig for another hair-tie in her purse for she only had one on her wrist. The two braids were tied off and brushed over her shoulders to fall down her back. 

"Ye got some mighty fine hair, lass." Amber looked over her shoulder to where the voice had come from. She looked down to find Nori smirking up at her. "Still cannae believe you cut it."

"Me either. It took me years to get it that long. Not to mention the sheer amount of time, effort, and money put into keeping it this soft." A hand ran over one of the braids and brought it up to her face. "Aw, come on!" What little chunk of hair left out of the braid was full of split ends. She normally had products and soaps to keep the strands from breaking, but being in Middle-Earth stole that away. What small amount of soap that had been packed in her bag had been used up in the first leg of their journey. 

"What's the matter, lassie?" Balin asked, speaking for the first time since Amber joined Dwalin. She threw the braid back over her shoulder with a pout. Her gaze turned from Nori to the old dwarf walking just to the side of him. He must have stepped back when she climbed up Dwalin for a perch. 

"Split ends." Even on her travels, she always had enough soap to last the trip. But those trips were also only a couple of weeks to a month at a time, not two. "They are the bain of my existence. I've only had them this bad a couple times before. Once, before I really started growing out my hair. And another when a good section caught fire."

"How, pray tell, did you catch your hair on fire?" Nori asked, not looking entirely convinced. Amber looked down at the two dwarves and grimaced. 

"Well, I'm just going to start by saying that this was like five years ago. I had just moved into my first house without a roommate or anything. Just me and all of my stuff. There was literally no one else with me, and my dumbass forgot about a candle. One of those really long ones that go in candelabras or whatever. I can't even remember why I had it burning, bright ass daylight was shining through the windows." She turned her body to the dwarves but was stopped by Dwalin tightening his grip as a warning. 

"Anyway. I forgot about a candle. And I probably had something in my hair that was flammable. Which really just made for a recipe of disaster." She paused to get out her own giggles as Nori was laughing. "So, I walk past this stupid fuckin candle, and my hair was about as long as it is now, so not super long but not short either. And the tips of a few strands passed through the flame and whatever was in my hair caused it to spread. I don't know what was going through my head when I felt the heat on my back, but I legit just fucking jumped out my open window into the snow. I'm pretty sure my neighbors still think I'm nuts."

"That's not hard to do, lass," Dwalin said. Amber flicked his ear but was too busy laughing to really care. Nori and his brother Ori were laughing so hard they had to lean on each other. While Balin was chuckling to himself and shaking his head. 

"Why did you have a window open if it was snowing?" Ever the rationalist, Dori asked the only important question in his mind. Amber had to take a moment to compose herself and sit back up fully; having been leaning heavily on Dwalin. 

"Ah, it wasn't actually snowing. There was just a shit ton of the powdery white stuff on the ground from it snowing the night before." She stopped and tilted her head to the side in thought. "I can't remember why I had the window open exactly. But I have a feeling it had something to do with the stray cat that used to stare at me through the window. She hated me."

"Why?" Her eyes turned down to little Ori as he looked up to her. A grin broke out on her face. 

"I may have dropped a box on her. There was nothing in it, mind you. But she really didn't take kindly to it." Amber shook her head and ended up smacking Dwalin in the face with one of her braids. His threats went unnoticed as she continued to talk. "It took close to a year before she would even get close enough for me to touch her. And another six months before I got her in my house. She really was a good cat for the two years that I had her. Her spawn on the other hand. Jesus Christ, he's the fucking devil. I swear."

For the next few hours Amber carried on about the various animals she's owned in her life along with the dwarves going on about the animals they've met. None of them had ever owned a pet. Which didn't surprise her in the slightest. But she made up for their lack in experience. She had several stories on her cats and dogs growing up and even the animals that she took photos of. Not that she could tell the dwarves about the big cats or giant bears or seals, but she had the stories nonetheless. 

Surprisingly, Dwalin didn't force her off his shoulders until they settled down for the night. She had thanked him for allowing her to stay, but he had already left before the sentence was fully out. Her eyes followed him through the small camp before she shrugged. Didn't matter to her if he refused to accept her thanks. Instead, she helped Bombur cook dinner. She wasn't the best cook but she definitely wasn't the worst out there. Baking was more her specialty in the kitchen. Give her some basic ingredients and she could have a tasty cake or other baked goods; even some non baked goods as well. But out in the wild, they didn’t have any of that. 

The next day had Amber humming as they started up the mountain. She was doing what she could to keep her thoughts from the events ahead. It was unclear in the movie about how long the company spent in the mountains and she hadn’t read the book in so long she couldn’t remember if it was specified. But she had to think of a way to keep her mind occupied during however long it would be. And it seemed like a song was very persistent to be recognized. It wasn’t one that she would listen to all the time, but she had the lyrics memorized like pretty much every other song she’d ever heard. Pretty interesting skill, just not very useful for other things. 

_Come along, catch a Heffalump _

_Sit with me on a muddy clump_

_ We’ll sing a song of days gone by _

_Run along now, don’t be glum _

_Get you gone, now, have some fun _

_Don’t be long, for the end is nigh _

It really was such an odd song, even by her standards. She really didn’t know who originally wrote it or what was going through their head. But the upbeat tune had the dwarves around her looking to her. 

_Don’t let moments pass along _

_And waste before your eyes _

_March with me and the borogoves _

_Come with me and the slithy toves _

_And never ask us why _

_Come, come, come, come, come along now _

_Run away from the hum-drum _

_We’ll go to a play that is safe from _

_Greed, anger, and boredom _

_We’ll dance and sing until sundown _

_And feast with abandon _

_We’ll sleep when the morning comes _

_And we’ll rise by the sound of the birds songs _

_We’ll be here when the world slows down _

_And the sunbeams fade away _

_Keeping time by a pendulum _

_As the fabric starts to fray _

_There’s no such thing as time to kill _

_Nor time to throw away _

Maybe once upon a time she would have pondered what the lyrics meant, but at the moment she had no such desire. The tone of the song was kinda funky and kept her entertained even as she was singing it. 

_Come, come, come, come, come along now _

_Run away from the hum-drum _

_We'll go to a place that is safe from _

_Greed, anger and boredom _

_We'll dance and sing till sundown _

_And feast with abandon _

_We'll sleep when the morning comes _

_And we'll rise by the sound of the bird song _

_Come with me, catch a rare type specimen _

_Cuddle up with a hesitant skeleton _

_We’ll break our fast with friends _

_Once we’re fed, we shall disappear rapidly _

_Many moons to the west of here and happily _

_Our journey never ends _

There was barely a pause in her singing as the words caught up to her. This really was a weird song, and she couldn’t begin to know what the others were thinking.

_Shut your ears when sirens sing _

_Tie armbands to your feet _

_Listen up and you won’t go wrong again _

_Float along in a verseless song and then _

_Get to where the two ends meet _

_Come, come, come, come, come along now _

_Run away from the hum-drum _

_We'll go to a place that is safe from _

_Greed, anger and boredom _

_We'll dance and sing till sundown _

_And feast with abandon _

_We'll sleep when the morning comes _

_And we'll rise by the sound of the bird song _

Amber continued to hum out the last few notes and looked between those near her. For once she was in the front of the group with Thorin. She was just behind him with Balin next to her and the princes behind them. Fili and Kili were trying to figure out what the song meant while Balin was only giving her odd looks. There was something that she couldn’t decipher swimming in the old dwarf’s eyes. Whatever it was it wasn’t settling well with her. Her nose twitched in thought as her feet carried her to walk with Thorin. The dwarf King barely gave her a glance when she joined him. But then he started talking, quiet enough so Balin couldn’t hear him.

“I would watch what you sing about if you wish to keep your world crossing to yourself.” Red and blue eyes narrowed in thought at the king. “Your words speak of more than just how far you have come from your home.”

“You didn’t tell anyone? Like, not even Balin?” She kept her voice lowered and quiet as she leaned down the slightest bit. 

“I did not find it necessary to tell them. I am not the only one who would be wary and untrusting of you,” Thorin said. Amber moved her eyes from the stone in front of them to the dwarf. She knew he didn’t trust her, but at least he kept it to himself for the most part. “Balin is already growing suspicious that you are not what you say. Your breakdown over the stars started both of our suspicions. Your strange songs and stories have done no more than bring a following eye to you.”

“Oh let him wonder,” she said. She snorted softly and shook her head. “Whatever conclusion he reaches won’t be the right one, and if it doesn’t put me in a bad light then why not go with it? It’s got to be better than me being from a completely different world. If it’s not, then well, guess I’m dead.” A shrug punctuated her words along with a rather harsh laugh. What was the worst Balin could come up with.

“I advise you do not take his sharp mind out of consideration. There was a reason he was King Thror’s advisor, and my own,” Thorin said. She cast a look over her shoulder to find most of the dwarves watching them with some sort of interest. Looking back to Thorin, she couldn’t help the slight cringe.

“They really are going to kill me when they figure out.” Her foot moved to kick a rock only to have it stuck in the ground. She cursed and tripped forward and would have fallen to the ground if not for the strong hand grabbing her arm. “Thanks. Don’t think I’d enjoy walking around with a broken nose.” 

Whatever was going through her mind stopped at a thought. She had learned that she could heal from a small cut in about six hours, but since Dwalin refused to let her have a weapon she couldn’t further test those experiments. A single cut and arrow wound were nothing to scoff at when they healed as fast as they did; but just what else could she heal from. Dwalin wasn’t there to stop her from doing a different type of test. All she could hope was that Thorin wasn’t as stubborn.

“Ya know, on that thought of a broken nose.” Her voice was back to its usual pitch and cut off what Thorin was saying. He looked to her sharply but waited for her to continue. “So, we know I can heal from an arrow wound to the spine and a single cut.” She didn’t look away from the growing mountains to know that Thorin was already catching on to what she wanted to do. “We don’t know anything past that. And obviously when one can’t further a certain path, they must find another.” 

“Where are you taking this?” She turned from the mountains to the King walking next to her. A carefully blank look was covering his face; and to that she gave a large grin.

“Can’t have a weapon, courtesy of a certain dwarf.” Her head looked over her shoulder to seek out Dwalin. He was walking with Nori and in the midst of a conversation. But like he knew she was looking he turned to her. A sly grin crossed her face and had him narrowing his eyes at her; with a wink she turned back to Thorin. The King had an eyebrow raised at her, having seen the exchange, but didn’t say anything. “I need you to break my nose.”

“What in Durin’s name would that prove?” 

“An average person can heal from a broken nose in three weeks. If I can heal from a single cut in less than six hours, how long will it take to heal a broken bone? Of course, a broken finger or something is going to take much longer considering they’re actually bones. But a nose? That’s just cartilage.” She paused to find Thorin already starting to say no. “What’s the worst that can happen? You break my nose and it heals in three weeks, or we see if it takes longer than a day.” Another thought passed her mind and caused her to pause again. “Well, worst case is that I die, actually. Hit my nose just right and with pure dumb luck you could make a clean break, then if you wanted to kill me all you’d have to do is push that broken piece hard enough to pierce my brain. But you’ve got have probably the luckiest fists if that happens.”

“I am not going to break your nose,” he said. Amber sighed and hung her head back. What would it take to get him to punch her? Or, well, he didn’t have to do anything. 

“Dwarves have thick skulls, right?” Her bright eyes were already back on Thorin with an idea swirling within them. 

“I’m not going answer that.” Her huffing earned a pointed look from the dwarf. “Whatever it is you are planning, put a stop to it now.” The no nonsense tone was one she had heard several times in her life, but it never warded her from what she was going to do. She gave him a sharp grin before spinning on her heel. 

That one moment caused enough surprise in the princes behind her to not stop them quick enough. Kili almost bumped into her but stopped just before. The question on his tongue never got the chance to be spoken. Amber lifted her hands to grab both sides of his head, already feeling his confusion, and gave him an almost apologetic smile. She didn’t give herself time to think before she was slamming her nose on the top of the dwarf’s head. A loud crack sounded along with a string of curses from the woman. Her hands dropped Kili’s head to come up to rub her forehead. 

A set of arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her away from the prince. She didn’t bother to fight them as she continued to curse and cover her nose. Blood was dripping down over her lips in thick trails. It hurt like a bitch but it wasn’t the first time that she’s broken her nose. She was a really dumb child and it seemed that carried on into adulthood. 

“What did I tell you,” Thorin said. She felt his grip on her waist not loosen in the slightest.

“You didn’t tell me shit.” Her voice was muffled and stuffy but understandable. “I asked a question and you didn’t answer. So I figured it out myself. Consider yourself lucky I didn’t do it on you.”

“No. You went against what I told you and did your stupid stunt on my nephew.” His gruff voice would have given her pause if she couldn’t feel his mounting amusement that she was sure was usually reserved for the nephews in question. 

“You find it just as funny as I do.” She laughed and pulled herself from his tight grip. “You couldn’t honestly expect me to not break my nose after all that I told you. I need to know.” Her hands dropped from her face as she lifted her head from facing the ground. The blood continued to drip down her nose and the grin she was giving the dwarf King was covered in the red liquid. It fell into her mouth and coated her teeth in a diluted red film. “This isn’t the worst that you’ve seen from me. A broken nose is nothin compared to an arrow. That shit hurt so fucking much.”

“Are you alright?!” Kili asked, cutting her off from saying any more. The dwarves around them must have been in shock to have been quiet long enough for them to have a conversation. 

“Oh I’m quite alright, Kili. Isn’t the first time I’ve broken my nose,” Amber said. She turned away from Thorin to face the young prince. A concerned expression was clear on his and his brother’s faces. 

“What was the point of that, lass?” Her gaze shifted to Balin then to the rest of the dwarves finally joining them. 

“To break my nose. I want to see how long it takes to heal,” she said. Her hand went up to wipe under her nose when someone else’s caught her wrist. 

“What in Durin’s name did you do?” She looked down to Oin with a bright grin growing on her face. It scrunched up her nose and made her wince in pain but still she smiled. 

“Broke my nose for science,” she said. The old dwarf shook his head at her and let go of her wrist to dig through his pack. She continued in her motion to wipe under her nose and smeared the blood across her cheek. A grimace passed over her as she moved to wipe the blood off on her jeans. When another heavy hand came to rest on her shoulder she groaned loudly and dropped her head back. The small amount of contact allowed her to know just who it was and that he was both annoyed and concerned. 

“Don’t even start,” she said. Her head came back into a more natural position and turned to face the warrior. “I’m not dead or seriously injured, a broken nose is nothin. You can chill out, Rose. Even Thorin found it amusing.” 

The use of the nickname brought pause to all of the dwarves. They all stared at her like she had either grown a second head or spoke total gibberish. She glanced at them with scrunched up eyebrows before shutting that down quickly; her nose hurt like a bitch. It took her half a second to realise what had them all paused. Most of those living in Middle-Earth don’t give out nicknames unless they’re courting; or she thinks that’s what its called. Which was really weird to her because she was used to having different nicknames from most of her friends. Cultural differences really give her head a spin sometimes. But she wasn’t going to take the name back or apologize. Nicknames came to her like breathing; it was something that she had grown up doing. Her parents hardly ever used her real name when she was growing up and she tended to think in shortened or nicknames for people. Most of the dwarves already had some sort of variation of name in her mind; Dwalin’s just happened to be the one she used first. 

“Are we just going to stand here in silence? Or can we continue on while I clean my face?” To emphasize her point she wiped at her face once more. The blood had stopped dripping but still coated her mouth and chin. Around her the dwarves still stood in silence watching her. “Right. If you lot aren’t going to do anything. Then I’m leaving you behind.”

She started back in her walking, out of Dwalin’s grip, and past Thorin. Barely a step past the King and his hand was coming down on her shoulder to stop her. But instead of holding her there, he started walking just in front of her.

“You can not lead if you do not know where you’re going,” he said. Amber blinked at him for a moment before laughing and falling into step next to him. Behind them the dwarves were talking in quiet whispers but followed. 

“If that’s the case, they you shouldn’t be leading either. Mister ‘got lost twice looking for a Hobbit hole’. I may not know these lands, but you sir, are directionally challenged.” She dipped her head in a laugh and couldn’t stop the flinch of pain when her nose scrunched up. Breaking her nose really was a bad idea. 

“I will let that slide,” Thorin said. But even he knew that she was right. They fell back a step to let Balin lead them further up the mountain. “But should you wander off, we will not stop to find you.”

“Oh you don’t have to worry about that, bossman. I have no plans of leaving. I’m dead the second I stray from the pack. So, you’re stuck with me until you reach your mountain.” The laugh that was on her lips stopped at the sobering thought. Erebor. What was she to do once they reclaimed it? There wasn’t much she remembered from The Battle of the Five Armies or the book ending; but one could never forget who died. The line of Durin was slaughtered in that battle. 

What was she to do when the battle starts? There was no way she could be with all three of them at the same time. And she didn’t even know if she should change the outcome. She had no way of knowing what would happen if even one of them survived, let alone all three. It was probably in her best interest to just disappear the second the mountain was reclaimed; to avoid any massive changes. But could she really bring herself to allow three innocent men to die when she knew it was coming? The very thought of being there when it happens made her shudder. She had no desire to see any one of the dwarves dead, but at what cost would it be to save them?

There was nothing that could stop the wandering thoughts after that. For however long they traveled the rest of the day, Amber couldn’t find it in herself to talk or sing. She was swamped with knowing what was going to happen and not going to happen if she fucked something up. Like how much would the future change if she delayed them for a single day or even an hour? Did her just being there ruin the peaceful times to come? And what of Sauron? What would happen if he knew of her or where she came from? How much destruction could he cause if he pried her brain open to find all the knowledge she held? Has she doomed Middle-Earth?

It was when they settled down for the night that she realized that she was really missing home. Missing not having to worry about the weight of an entire world on her shoulders. Missing her family and luxuries of her time. She refused to cry as her thoughts turned from Middle-Earth to just plain old Earth. It seemed so far away from her. All the technology and buildings were out of her reach even as she carried some things with her. Even the animals that she knew were out of reach. Sure, they might be in Middle-Earth, but she wasn’t going to kid herself into thinking she would ever see them. 

Whether she’d see a mountain lion or even possibly a snow leopard. She knew there were bears, but not if there were polar bears. There were goats and rams, but not if there were native mountain goats. There was also the factor of taking into account that the movies were filmed in New Zealand. Animals that lived in other countries might not be in Middle-Earth. So far on their journey, she hasn’t really seen any animals. She’d seen deer and squirrels of course, even a few birds, but nothing she recognized. A couple times in her travels she’d been to New Zealand. She had spent close to a week in the Southern Alps trying to get good pictures of Mount Cook; and had come back to take pictures of several of the national parks in New Zealand. It had taken her a while to realize that the Southern Alps was where they actually were. Obviously, it wasn’t an exact replica, but it was close enough to almost have her mistake the Misty Mountains for it. 

There were so many things that made her forget that she wasn’t just in New Zealand on a bender. The mountains and several of the rolling hills looked exactly the same as those in the legendary country. If she didn’t land in the Shire, she wouldn’t have a hard believing she was still on Earth. But no matter how similar they looked, there was no way she could actively mistake this world. 

The moon was high in the sky as Amber sat on a cold rock. They weren’t super high up in the mountains, but the cool air was already nipping at her skin. It was still September, but it seemed that the weather turned colder much faster in Middle-Earth. She wasn’t cold or anything; just mildly chilly. Her cloak was out and on her shoulders as she watched the sky above her. There was nothing interesting on the mountain side for her to watch and nothing for her to do. She wasn’t tired and really hadn’t been since Rivendell. The only reason she slept was to pass the night by faster. And because of her not sleeping, the dwarves were passed out around a small fire with only Dwalin still possibly awake. 

After her slip up with the nickname the dwarves hadn’t really spoken with her. Only Thorin would engage her in conversation, but that was shut down by her when her thoughts got too intrusive. For the past ten or so hours she hasn’t said a word to anyone and couldn’t find it in herself to bother caring. As it was, she was content to just wait out the night by herself; hopefully in silence, but her mind does not like the quiet. Despite her want for peace and quiet to contemplate what to do next, her mind wanted to remind her of her home even more. It started out as a soft hum of a single note before developing into a song forever connecting her to the world she left behind. 

_Oh, miss believer, my pretty sleeper _

_Your twisted mind is like snow on the road _

_Your shaking shoulders prove that it’s colder _

_Inside your mind than the winter of the dead _

_I will tell you I love you _

_But the muffs on your ears will cater your fears _

_My nose and feet are running as we start _

_Travel through snow _

_Together we go (Together we go) _

Her voice was quiet and not nearly as pitch matching as the original song. It wasn’t bad per say, just not nearly to the quality of the other songs she had sung. 

_We get colder _

_As we grow older _

_We will walk _

_So much slower _

_Oh, miss believer, my pretty weeper _

_Your twisted thoughts are like snow on the rooftops _

_Please, take my hand, we’re in a foriegn land _

_As we travel through the snow _

_Together we go _

_Together we go _

A tremble entered her voice that only seemed to grow stronger the longer she sang. Her chest ached and her eyes burned with tears she refused to shed.

_We get colder _

_As we grow older _

_We will walk _

_So much slower _

The song trailed off with a shuddering breath. She wrapped her cloak tighter around her body and closed her eyes against the memories it brought back. They weren’t sad or terrible memories; they just made her wish for home more strongly. Behind her she picked up the sound of someone shuffling around and standing. She didn’t care who it was.

“What was that song you were singing?” Bilbo was quiet in his question and taking up a seat next to her. Wet blue and red eyes opened to stare at the mountain side then turned to the hobbit. 

“Just one from my home,” she said. Her hand came up to rub at her eyes and hissed in pain when she brushed against her nose. It was healing nicely, but still very sensitive. 

“Who was it about?” A soft, wet, laugh escaped her at the question.

“It’s not about anyone, but it was my sister’s favorite. Not the oldest, but my biological sister. She used to have me sing it every time we had down time together.” Every time she came back home and got time to visit the basketball star, she sung the song. They didn’t spend nearly as much time together as they used too. She was going to remedy that when - if - she got back home. The camping trip was never going to be enough after this journey.

“Oh.” Bilbo was quiet for a moment and hummed in thought. “What’re your sisters names? You haven’t really talked about your family.” 

“The oldest is Ellen and then there’s Paige. We’re all a little over a year apart, two in mine and Ellen’s case. They’re both the exact opposite of each other. Ellen, she makes clothes and things from home to take care of her son, and Paige. Well, she travels like I do.” There wasn’t really a good way to explain what Paige did for a living. Being a professional women's basketball player wouldn’t translate well. 

“They sound nice,” Bilbo said. 

“They can be. But like every sibling there is going to be a bit of animosity on things. We’ve only ever really gotten into one fight, that was when we were still young teenagers. It was over something stupid too, can’t even remember now. But I wouldn’t trade them for the world.” Or even a different world. She would probably give anything to get back to them. “You should get some sleep, Bilbo.” 

With the end of the conversation, she shooed the hobbit back to the fire. He hesitated for a moment before going back to his bedroll. She passed a glance over the camp and found Dwalin sitting up by the fire. It was obvious he hadn’t been asleep and probably heard their entire talk. Her eyes caught his over the fire and held them for a moment before getting to her feet. It was quiet as she made her way to his side. Even with her want of silence and peace, she didn’t want to sit alone anymore. Nothing was said as she sat down next to him and pulled her knees up to her chest. Her hair fell over her face and brushed the ground but she didn’t care. A single tear dripped down her cheek and into the dirt. 

“I miss them so much,” she whispered. She sniffed and went to wipe her nose but stopped short. It was going to hurt. Instead, she turned her head to the side to look up at the dwarf next to her. He hadn’t moved or looked down at her, but she knew he had heard her. “I’ve traveled so much before this, but, God! It never hurt this much to away from them.”

“The worst part when traveling is being away from your family.” His voice was just as quiet as hers. She blinked up at him and moved to brush a chunk of hair out of her line of sight. “Before meeting again in that hobbit hole, I had nae saw my brother is several years.” 

“This is the longest I’ve been away. A month at max was how long I left for; it’s been close to two months now. And I know it’s going to be several more before this quest is done with.” Oh, did she know. It was already nearing the end of September and they had just reached the mountains. There were still three months until the last day of autumn. But she knew the quest didn’t end at the mountain, no matter how much she wished it would.

“There is no contract binding you to this quest,” Dwalin said. “You can go home any time.” A harsh left Amber and had her shaking her head. 

“No I can’t. This quest is as much my own now as it is yours. I couldn’t leave if I tried.” She sighed and moved to drop her head on his shoulder. “I’d never be able to live with myself if I abandoned you lot.” Her cloak was pulled tighter against her body by trembling hands. She really would never be able to go home before the story reaches its end without an extreme amount of guilt. It would do nothing to hurt the outcome, but she was already trying to work through scenarios that would lead to the line of Durin surviving. 

“I only hope that we make it out of this alive,” she said. She felt him tense under her head, but merely watched the fire without another word. There was no doubt he had questions about what she meant. But with a quiet hum she closed her eyes and forced herself to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Amber scowled at the back of Dwalin’s head. It had been raining for a solid week and mountain rain was freezing cold. She had been forced to put on the black sweater that was in her purse just to stop shivering. Her white cloak hardly kept the rain off of her and barely held in her body heat. Every night of the week she had to cuddle up as close to the dwarves as they would allow. They were naturally warm and made for space-heaters; but they don’t take kindly to one snuggling close to them. Most of the nights she was pressed between Bofur or Nori and the fire. With how much it was raining she had taken to sleeping when the others did and only getting up when she had too. 

With all the rain she didn’t notice what part of the mountain pass they were on. It was well past dark and raining so hard she could hardly see who was in front of her. And the thunder was so loud she couldn’t hear what the others were saying. She thought she heard Thorin before she was being pressed against the rock face by a strong arm to avoid the rock crashing towards them. Several curses flew past her lips that were lost in the wind. Her ears just barely picked up Balin’s voice, but couldn’t make out what he was saying. 

“Well, bless me!” Bofur took the smallest step away from the cliff face to stare out into the night. “The legends are true. Giants! Stone Giants!” 

“Get back, you idiot!” Amber shouted, hoping he heard her. A boulder was coming closer to them through the veil of the night. Bofur either heard her or saw the boulder for he fell back against the rock face; an arm thrown over Bilbo to protect him. 

A rumbling started from the stone path underneath their feet. Amber’s hands reached out to latch onto Dwalin as the shaking knocked her off balance. Her fingers tightened so much she was sure his arm was going to bruise the next day. There were several shouts from the dwarves as the path split in half to form the knees of a stone giant. She knew this was going to work out but was already in a bad mood and wasn’t feeling up to dealing with the possibility of falling to her death. Dwalin’s arm was across her body to keep her pressed against the rock as they were swung around. They watched the others cross over safely; which just left them. 

“I’m making a petition to get rid of stone giants,” she said to herself. If Dwalin heard her, it went ignored. Her eyes blinked against the rain as her hood was pushed back. She caught sight of the cliff coming closer and braced herself for the impact. 

What she expected to feel was overshadowed by the panic clawing at her chest. In the tumble she had let go of Dwalin and fell over the side of the cliff. It was almost laughable where she landed. Bilbo was clinging to the cliff edge above her as she had only just barely caught a rock to stop her descent. Her fingers were cramping and bloody from where they had been shredded on the rocks. Fear was coursing through her body at the life threatening drop she was facing. Her entire body was shaking, but she knew there was nothing to be done about it. While she was terrified of falling she also knew that it would do her no good to panic. There were only two options here. Either fall to her death or climb up far enough for someone to grab her. And right now she could do nothing with Bilbo above her. 

Her eyes closed against the rain falling on her face. The strength in her fingers was fading before she could even start climbing. A soft cry escaped her lips before she could stop it. This really wasn’t how she wanted to die. 

Above her the dwarves were shouting for both her and Bilbo. She couldn’t bring herself to open her eyes just yet and pressed her forehead to the wet stone. The sound of her name had her lifting her head up just enough to see the dwarves. Bofur was on his stomach reaching for Bilbo with Ori at his side. Her eyes traveled away from them to Thorin and Dwalin next to them. They were looking from Bilbo to her with mounting concern. She closed her eyes again and groaned quietly. There was no way they could reach her, like she knew, and they weren’t going to be happy by that realization. 

“I would appreciate it if you lot’d get him out of the way.” Her annoyed call only earned her the hobbit losing his grip on the stone. As he dropped down, Thorin swung over the edge to catch him. She looked up to the dwarf King as she waited for him to lose his grip as well. Like clockwork, his fingers slipped and he would have fallen if Dwalin didn’t grab him. 

“How are we gonna get the lass?” Bofur asked while looking back over the edge.

“Give me a damn moment. Jesus.” She was beyond annoyed and her fear was making her snappish. Her fingers clenched painfully on the stone before she started dragging herself up the cliff. Only one time before had she been rock climbing and she hated it. This was no different and made her never want to step foot near a mountain again. 

When one of her hands got close enough for them to reach, Dwalin pulled her up the rest of the way. She was quick to brush off his hands and huddle in on herself. Her body shivered against the cold and made her draw the cloak on her shoulders tighter. 

“I thought we lost out burglar and lass.” She couldn’t tell if it was Bofur or Dwalin who spoke, but she didn’t care. 

“They’ve been lost ever since they left home. They never should have come. They have no place amongst us,” Thorin said. Amber scowled at the King as he started to turn away.

“I swear to fucking God! We literally just almost died, you asshole. We don’t need your bullshit right now!” She snarled at the King’s back. There was a pause within the dwarves at her words. They had never heard her so angry and weren’t sure how either her or Thorin would react. 

“Dwalin.” Thorin ignored her and stepped into a cave he found. A sneer found its way onto Amber’s face as the dwarf warrior moved to follow after his king. She curled in on herself before a gentle hand landed on her arm. A soft burning crawled up her arm along with the sharp feeling of worry. 

“You alright, lass?” Bofur’s voice was quiet, but loud enough to be heard over the rain. He urged her into the cave but didn’t take his hand off her arm. She drew in a breath and stopped just inside the entrance of the cave. 

“I’m fine, Bofur. Your worry is unwarranted, as is your fear. Bilbo and I are fine,” she said. Thorin called for Bofur to take the first watch, but neither one paid him any mind. She rubbed a hand over her arm while the other went to grab Bofur’s. “It’s gonna take more than a tumble to get rid of me.” 

“How do ye know I’m afraid?” He let her take his hand as they moved to sit by the cave entrance. She pulled her knees up to her chest and picked at the gloves covering his palms. The tips of his fingers were left exposed to the elements; she never could understand the use of fingerless gloves.

“I can feel it. Like they’re my emotions, but I know they’re yours. It happens whenever someone touches me,” she said. Her voice was quiet to avoid waking the sleeping dwarves. She tightened her grip on his hand for a second before letting it go.

“Well, aren’t you something, lass.” His laugh was infectious and soon had her leaning on his leg as she tried to calm her breathing.

“That I am.”

They fell into silence as Amber tugged her hood down. She hadn’t taken her hair out of the two braids it was in, and she was starting to regret that. Even with its shorter length it still held an impressive amount of water. Her fingers worked through the woven strands to separate them in order for them to dry faster. Tangles and curls caught on her fingers and pulled harshly. She muttered under her breath as she ran her fingers through the thick mane. It took probably an hour or two to get most of the tangles out and to squeeze out all the water she could. The tips laid in the sand while she smoothed out the middle section of her hair. She would have to clean it of the sand later, but for the moment she didn’t bother.

“Do ye need help, lass?” Bofur asked after hearing her distressed cursing. She dropped her hands to her lap and let her head fall to his knee. He was sitting on a rock above her while she sat on the ground. 

“Yes,” she muttered. She didn’t have the patience to deal with putting the hair back in its captive braids. “If you’d do my hair for me, that’d be fucking great. I’m almost tempted to cut it all off.”

“Well, we can’t have that, can we?” Bofur laughed. She huffed and lifted her head off his knee. In a quick shift she was sitting between his legs on the ground with her hair to him. It took him a moment of hesitation before he was running his fingers through the thick mass. The dampness did little to help ease the parting of her hair. 

“I know you dwarves can do braids an’ all. But do you know how I do mine?” She didn’t care if he did her hair up in a different way; she was simply curious. 

“Aye. I’ve seen ye do them enough times to do it myself. Though they ain’t gonna be as nice,” he said. His fingers separated her hair into two chunks before starting on braiding back on section. The movement was gentle and entirely different from how she normally braided her own hair.

“You don’t have to be so gentle. I’m not gonna die from a few missing strands of hair. Hell, you’ve seen how much I normally pull out when I do it.” She earned a chuckle from him but nothing else. For a long while they sat in silence as he continued to braid her hair. She could tell he was doing something different as he hadn’t even finished braiding one half before moving to the second. But at about the same place he stopped again. She was about to ask when he started pulling the rest of her hair up into a ponytail.

“It’s too wet to finish braidin’, sorry lass.” He brushed the long strands into one hand and held them just a little higher than the back of her head. “Do ye have one of those stretchy things on yer wrist?” 

“A hair-tie?” Amber laughed as she pulled off the black band on her wrists. “Do you know how to use it?”

“I think I can figure it out,” he said. He took the band from her fingers and paused for a moment to stretch it out. For several minutes he tried to work the band around her hair but could never quite get it right. 

“How about I do it?” She reached back for her hair and the tie. Bofur handed both over without complaint and sat back to watch how she tied her hair up. In two quick wraps her hair was holding itself up, but she needed the second hair-tie for her to be sure it wouldn’t fall. 

“Thank you, Bofur.” She moved out from between his legs and came to rest right next to him again. Her eyes traveled over the rest of the dwarves in the cave and came to rest on Dwalin. He was sleeping sitting up on the opposite wall from her, but directly across. A small smile made its way onto her face at the sight of him even slightly relaxed. She studied the scars covering his face and the tattoos on the top of his head. There was never an explanation on where the scars came from or what the tattoos meant; maybe he would tell her if she asked. 

“Yer starin’ lass.” Bofur’s quiet voice broke her out of her thoughts. She hummed a single note and turned up to face him. “Those feelin’s of yers are clear as day on yer face.” 

“What?” Her head tilted to the side in confusion. The hatted dwarf nodded to where Dwalin was sleeping with a knowing grin on his face. It took her a moment to understand what he was implying. “Oh.” She turned to look back at the warrior with a studying eye. Never once did she consider that she might feel something other than general friendliness with any of the dwarves. But as she went back through her thoughts and memories, it wasn’t hard to see that there was a trace amount of affection for the dwarf. Maybe more than a trace as her thoughts turned to the morning in Rivendell. 

“Ye didn’t know,” Bofur guessed. Amber dipped her head to show he was on the right track. How could she when she was so busy worrying over the outcome of the story.

“I’m certainly not surprised. I’ve always been quick to fall for someone and then never notice until it was too late.” Her mother had always told her that she had a heart of gold and a loving soul. It never really was a surprise when she figured out if she had a crush or something of the sort. Over the years she had grown out of it, but she still falls quick and fast for people. Which had led to several bad relationships.

“I don’ think it’s too late, lass.” She gave him a hum and laid her head on his knee again. 

“One can never know when a moment as past its prime.” Without even looking, she could tell he rolled his eyes at her. His hand came up to run through her ponytail as if trying to soothe her thoughts. “Or when one has yet to start. I’m more than certain that moment of clarity hasn’t happened just quite yet. Look how long it took me.”

“Ye have nothin’ to worry about. That moment will come,” Bofur said. Amber sighed and closed her eyes. She has had enough of this strain of talk and was more than ready to get some sleep before the chaos started. With the soft motions of Bofur’s hands she slipped into a light sleep.

“Get up! Get up, all of you!” Thorin’s shouting had Amber shooting up straight. 

A grinding of gears was coming from the ground before it fell open. Amber shouted in surprise and pain as she tumbled down with the dwarves. She knocked heads with several of them and hit the sides of the tunnel more times than she tumbled over herself. They fell for a short amount of time before coming to a stop in a heap. A groan left her as felt a foot being pressed into the middle of her back and a knee squishing her breasts. 

“Get off! You’re gonna bruise my boobs, asshole,” she said. Whoever was on top of her rolled to the side and allowed her to breathe properly. “Thank you.” She reached up to rub her breast to ease the ache settling in. “These are going to hurt so much later. You lot are fucking heavy.” 

“Sorry, Amber.” Fili’s voice next to her ear had her shaking her head. That boy was heavier than he looked, that's for sure. 

If anyone else was going to say something it was cut off by the screeches and shrieks echoing through the caverns. Colorful curses fell from her lips as she knew what was coming. But it didn’t prepare her for the goblins grabbing her. Dark, harsh burning spread across her skin that had her crying out in pain. Pleasure, enjoyment, excitement and several more cold emotions rolled over her skin from their touches. Their hands scratched and scrambled for any purchase they could touch on her body. Fear and panic started clawing in her chest as she got vivid imagery from what the goblins had in mind. They kept a tight hold on her as the company was shoved down a narrow bridge. 

“Let me go! You disgusting creatures, let me the fuck go!” She yelled as she was shoved along. “Get off!” Her squirming did little more than rile the creatures up more. 

“Get yer hands off her!” Bofur tried to reach her but his path was blocked by more goblins. She looked over her shoulder at him with mismatched eyes wide in fear and the slight sheen of unshed tears. Her body was on fire as her senses were assaulted by the feelings and fantasies of the goblins holding her. 

“Don’t you vile creatures touch her!” Dwalin punched several of the goblins, but even that did little to close the distance between Amber and the others. 

All of the dwarves shouted for her release even as they were shoved along behind her. One of the goblins grabbed a fistful of pink hair and wrenched her head back as far it would go. They’re sickening laughter echoed as she cried out in pain and tried to struggle out of their holds once more; not caring if she left behind several strands of hair. Tears dripped down her cheeks as dark emotions swirled on her skin. These creatures didn’t care that they were hurting her; they took pleasure in it. She sobbed in both pain and fear for whatever was to come. The goblins weren’t going to let her free without taking something for themselves. 

Around her singing started up, but she couldn’t pick out the words. She tried to break free of the goblins and stumbled forward when they let go. A different set of hands caught her. The burning rushing over her skin came to a stop as it was replaced by a soothing tingle. But even knowing who it was didn’t stop the sob clawing out of her throat. Her eyes were closed tight as tears slid down her face and she didn’t bother looking to see who it was before she fell into their shoulder. She kept her head down and her body huddled in on itself as her arms moved to wrap whoever it was in a crushing hug. Whatever shock he was feeling was drowned out by her own crying. Sobs racked her body as she could still feel the goblins’ lingering touches. The soft fur covering the shoulder her face was pressed into soaked up her tears and muffled her noises. 

“Who would be so bold to come armed into my kingdom? Spies? Thieves?! Assassins!?” Amber shuddered at the sound of the Goblin King’s voice. This was already worse than she could have imagined. Her hands fisted the material of Dwalin’s shirt and choked down another sob. 

“Dwarves, and a woman, your malevolence,” a goblin said. She could hear the snicker in his voice at the mention of her. These creatures wanted her to themselves. 

“Dwarves?”

“We found them on the front porch.”

“Well don’t just stand there! Search them!” The Goblin King’s order had her trying to hide away. She didn’t want any more hands on her. An arm wrapped around her shoulders to try and keep her in place even as the goblins pulled at both of them. “Every crevice.” The pack on her back was ripped from her shoulders and replaced by hands running up her sides. She slapped and kicked at the creatures to try and clear her body of their touches. Around her the dwarves did their best to fight off the goblins and tried to help despite the fact that they were being search as well. 

The hands running over her body disappeared the second the sound of metal items clattered to the ground. She looked to Dwalin first then where the noise had come from. A pile of elvish cutlery and candlesticks sat in a heap in front of their group. Her eyes squinted at them before looking to where Nori was standing. There was no doubt he had stolen the things in front of them.

“They are in league with elves!” One of the goblins cried and held out a candlestick. The Goblin King stepped closer before taking it from the smaller creature’s hands. 

“Made in Rivendell. Second Age, couldn’t give it away.” The candlestick was tossed over the side of the platform. Amber tilted her head to the side and took a step closer to Dwalin. She didn’t remember most of the scenes in the goblin tunnels, and couldn’t tell if this actually happened. It made her wary and with her already being uncomfortable she found solace in knowing Dwalin was right next to her. 

“Just a couple of keepsakes,” Nori said. 

“What are you doing in these parts? With a woman no less,” the King asked. As if an unspoken order was given, several goblins ripped her from the safety of the center of the group. She cried out as she was shoved to her knees in front of the giant disgusting goblin. Hands held her down and one grabbed her ponytail to pull her head back; exposing her neck to the creatures. Behind her the dwarves tried to spin a story in a way that would both be believable and enough to let her go. 

“Shut up!” The Goblin King commanded and sent everyone into silence. Amber did her best to not start crying again even as her skin burned. “If they will not talk, we’ll make them squawk. Bring up the mangler. Bring up the bone-breaker. Start with the female!” 

The goblins holding her down pulled her to her feet and held her steady in the middle of the platform. Behind her she could hear Thorin yelling for them to wait but it didn’t stop the goblins from ripping off her cloak and slicing through her clothes. The black sweater and blue tank top underneath were pushed off her shoulders onto the ground. She struggled and shouted against the hold on her body, but it did little. A goblin took a knife to her dark jeans and cut them off her legs. The sneakers she was wearing were also pulled from her body. It left her in a yellow bra, sleep shorts, and pink socks. She shivered and tried to cover herself from the creatures even as they pulled her arms above her head. Her wrists were tied together to a swinging arm connected to the wooden platform. 

“Let her go.” Thorin’s commanding voice cut through the excited shrieking of the goblins. It brought frightened mismatched to the dwarves with tears starting to drip down her face again. But her one moment disappeared as a searing pain sprung along her back. Her body jerked forward and her head dropped down to try and avoid the pain. 

“Well, well, well. Look who it is. Thorin, song of Thrain, son of Thror, king under the mountain.” The Goblin King’s voice sounded, but Amber couldn’t look up.

Whatever was lashed across her back whooshed through the air to land home on her lower back. She cried out as she felt her skin being ripped open by what was probably hooks on a whip. Blood rushed down her skin and dripped to the wood below. Her body was high enough off the ground for her toes to just barely brush the ground. Another lash went across her back. Pain rippled through her body and had her sobbing. Never in her life had she felt so much pain nor the amount of blood running from the wounds. Sharp burning swept over her as a pair of hands came to touch her. Quick fingers scrambled over the smooth skin on her stomach while more hands came to trail over her legs. 

Her body jerked and squirmed to get away from the unwanted touches. The goblins’ slimy wants and desires crawled over her skin much like their hands were doing. Another loud cry for them to let her go went ignored. Her legs kicked out to dislodge the creatures but they were held in a tight grip. The lashing coming to her back didn’t stop but started trailing down to her backside and thighs. Amber sagged against the bonds holding her as her body seemed to lose what strength it had. She never had much of a pain tolerance when it came to her legs or back. But her lack of movement didn’t deter the disgusting creatures any. Another set of lashings were given to her thighs as a pair of hands came up to grope her breasts. A growl started in the back of her throat at the touch. She lifted her head to glare down at the creature and reared back to slam her forehead against the goblin’s. There was no way she was going down without fighting.

Thankfully her fighting didn’t get chance to really start as a bright white light spread out through the cavern. With it came a shockwave that knocked back the goblins. Amber only sighed in relief at the sight of Gandalf standing in the middle of the platform. Her body dropped once again and her head fell against her chest. There was nothing she could do to free herself when she could barely touch the ground. It didn’t take long for the ropes holding her up to be cut; effectively sending her crashing towards the ground. She would have hit it too if not for the strong arms catching her. Her back and legs cried out in protest at the movement. Blinking open her eyes, she pulled away from the dwarf. She had no desire to be touching anyone.

Her white cloak was tossed over her shoulders as she bent down to pull her shoes back on. She hissed in pain but carried on. Around her the dwarves fought to goblins as she dove for her purse sitting on the edge of the platform. She would dive headfirst into death’s hands to keep the things in her purse safe. A sword was thrust into her free hand before she was being pulled after Gandalf. With her limited movement, she was useless in fighting the goblin hoards. She limped in the middle of the group and did her best to not hinder the dwarves fighting around her. Every step she took caused her back and legs to protest, but there was no way she could stop and make it out alive also.

The sword in her hand felt heavy. She knew it was hers but she had no strength to wield it. Her fingers fumbled to keep a grip on the hilt until it was grabbed from her hand. A noise of surprise left her mouth but it was silenced by her having to jump off a moving bridge. They were nearing the end of the goblin adventures, but that only brought in the hours of running and fighting orcs. She came to a stop next to Dwalin as the Goblin landed on the bridge in front of them. Gandalf was quick to end his life, but it brought their section of bridge crashing down. Her hands latched onto Dwalin to keep her balance as they fell down the cavern. She cried out in pain as the bridge collapsed on top of all of them. The wounds on her back pulsed and burned against the rough treatment, but there was nothing she could do. When the body of the Goblin King fell on them, she had to fight the next round of tears burning in her eyes. Dwalin was quick to pull her from the rubble before moving to help Nori.

Amber shivered in the cold air as the blood on her body started to grow cold and tacky. She was thoroughly disgusted. But her want for a nice hot shower and medical attention weren’t going to be happening. Kili pointed out the goblins racing down the cavern walls to get to them and brought a groan from her. 

“We cannae fight them,” Dwalin said. He finished helping Nori out of the rubble and turned away from the creatures bearing down on them. 

“There is only one that will save us now.” Everyone turned to the wizard standing in front of them. “Daylight.” 

Another groan left Amber, but she was quick to start running. She limped heavily and left a trail of blood on the cave floor behind them. But despite the pain and discomfort, she had no plans of going back to the torture of the goblins.


	11. Chapter 11

The sun was just starting to set when they came to a stop. Amber’s back was on fire, but she knew the blood had stopped dripping. Her legs trembled before dropping her to the leaf covered ground under her. The white cloak covering her body was stained a deep red but it didn’t bother her in the slightest as she wrapped it around her body tighter. A shuddering breath escaped her as she pressed her forehead against a tree trunk. She really wasn’t a runner. Inside her shoes her feet cramped and tingled from the abuse. One hand left the cloak to rub her calf and pulled away when her fingers became coated in sticky blood. She tapped her fingers together to watch the blood string between her fingers in mild amusement. A glint in the dark substance had her bringing the hand closer to her face.

Last she checked blood didn’t shine in the sun. Taking a closer look she could see something within her blood. It shimmered a lot like glitter or metal in the sunlight. Maybe that’s what was causing her to heal so fast. She’d have to bring it up with Gandalf after they escape from the orcs safely.

“Anybody got a long strip of cloth?” She pulled herself to her feet and looked at everyone. Bilbo had yet to arrive, but the others were watching her closely. She set her purse on the ground and pulled her arms out of the cloak to wrap it fully around her chest. One hand held the two sides closed while the other went out to wait for a strip.

“Miss Amber, are you alright?” Gandalf unwrapped the scarf he always wore and set it in her hand.

“Quite. I could be dead, so as of right now, I’m as good as can be.” She took the scarf and tied it just under her chest to hold the cloak closed. “Though it is a little breezy up here.” Her laugh was only joined by Bofur and Nori as the others stared at her. “Where’s Bilbo?”

The question got the dwarves looking around for their burglar. Amber glanced at the tree hiding the hobbit before turning away. Bilbo was of no concern to her; the One Ring would remain fine for the next sixty years. Instead, she took down her hair and brushed through the tangles while watching Bilbo pop up. The carefully done braids by Bofur were brushed out and pulled into a high ponytail. She would have put it in a bun if she was given the time. But as it was, the howls of wargs had all of them racing for the trees.

Amber scrambled up Gandalf’s tree to avoid jumping in the next few minutes. Her cloak got caught on branches and pulled her down. Wargs launched at the trees and snapped at her heels; to which she kicked at them. That only resulted in her losing a shoe and a big chunk of her sock. She climbed to a higher branch and crossed her arms with a pout. Not only was her pack and all of her stuff missing, she had now lost a shoe. This little endeavor was turning out to be a nightmare worse than she thought it could be. The next thing to lose would probably be a limb, and then she’d get to test out how far her healing really was capable of. She huffed at the thought and turned her head to where the orcs were gathering.

Black speech came from Azog that she didn’t care to try and remember. She rolled her eyes at the creatures as the wargs started leaping for the dwarves again. The trees came tumbling down with the dwarves changing trees until they came to rest on the last one. Amber hugged the trunk as Fili took the rest of the branch next to her. A flaming pine cone dropped into his hands that had her looking up to Gandalf. The wizard was lighting pine cones on fire and dropping them down to the dwarves. She shook her head as the dry grass below caught up in a blaze; keeping the wargs back but only for a moment. Their reprieve from the creatures barely lasted as Azog shouted for them again. Then they leaped back at the tree trunk until it started leaning dangerously.

A shout left her mouth as the tree started falling. Her hands clung to the trunk until the tree hit the ground; and then she had to cling to the branch. It creaked under both her and Fili’s weight. She shared a look with the young dwarf before she was pulling herself up as fast as she could. Splinters tore through her skin as she tried to avoid getting Fili splattered on the ground thousands of feet below. She flopped onto the tree trunk and turned her face to look down at the dwarf; only to find him watching something behind her. It didn’t take her but a second to know that Thorin was running towards Azog when the dwarves started shouting for him. Something dark curled in her belly. There was something wrong with this just like way back in Rivendell. She hauled herself to her feet and spun to look around.

Like she knew it to happen, Thorin was caught in the white warg’s jaws and tossed to the side. Her eyes searched out for Bilbo to find him crawling to his feet just in front of her. Sharp eyes watched the hobbit take down the orc going for Thorin, but that was when the change became apparent. A warg was coming up behind Bilbo instead of Azog. Amber turned her head to look for Dwalin to find him still trying to climb up the tree. Her sword glinted on his back right in between his dual axes. With less thought than planned, she reached down for the weapon. Just as she pulled it from the scabbard Dwalin shouted for her to stop. There was no way she was ready to fight with her skill level, but she’d be damned before she let Bilbo die.

Time seemed to slow down as she ran for the hobbit. He was just turning around to find the warg snarling at his back. Amber pushed off a rock and slammed her sword into the creature’s thick skull. Black blood spurted up and splashed her in the face. A half gag left her as the substance got in her mouth. She wiped at her mouth and turned to Bilbo to see if he was alright. When her eyes met his he was pointing and shouting to something behind her. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion until something gripped her hair and pulled her backwards. Pain made her clench her fist on her sword. Whatever had a hold of her was moving backwards and up; which resulted in her just barely touching the ground with one hand reaching for her hair and the other hanging limp with a sword.

**_“What do we have here?”_** A dark voice snarled next to her head. Amber flinched away from the words and struggled in the tight grip. If she wasn’t in so much pain she would be wondering how she knew what the orc was saying.

“Let me go, you bastard!” Her legs kicked out to hit the warg in the face. Teeth caught her still shoe covered foot and pulled to the side harshly. There goes her other shoe apparently.

**_“Now why would I do that?”_** She growled and glared at the ground in front of her. Several shouts came from the dwarves still hanging over the cliff that drew her attention. Dwalin and Bifur were climbing to their feet with Bofur and Nori just behind them. Amber snarled to herself and swung the sword in her hand upwards.

The blade went behind her head and sliced through her hair. She was aiming for the orc wrist, but she wasn’t going to complain just yet. What she did do was go rolling down the small incline to land next to Thorin. She thanked Dwalin in her mind for him keeping the sword so sharp. Any duller and she never would have got it through her hair. A half laugh escaped her as she lifted her face enough to take in Thorin’s still form. She watched his chest rise and fall softly before nodding to herself. He was going to be just fine.

One hand went to touch his hand before she was getting to her feet again. A sharp burn washed over her skin at the contact until she moved away. Her eyes roamed the battlefield for a moment. It was going much like she remembered. Most of the dwarves were fighting while Gandalf held up Dori and Ori over the cliff. She turned her face up to the sky to watch the great eagles start to swoop in. They were positively one of her favorite things in both the movies and books. One such magnificent creature picked her up in its talons before dropping her on the back of another.

A laugh bubbled out of her as she sat up on the bird. Wind rushed through what was left of her hair and pulled it away from her face. It wasn’t super short but it was no longer its beautiful length either. The strands came to a stop just above her shoulders. Her hands went through her hair and brought a deep sigh from her. She never wanted it to be this short ever again, but she would make due with it. To avoid thinking about her losses, she turned her gaze to the night sky and other eagles. Her sharp gaze caught sight of all the dwarves and Gandalf and Bilbo all riding the flying beasts. While she couldn’t make out individuals, besides the obvious, she watched each of them until dawn started to break.

Now missing both shoes, her clothes, and her hair, Amber was sliding off the eagles back with a ‘thank you’ and ‘goodbye’. She raced to where Thorin was lying on the stone and crouched down next to him with Gandalf. While she knew he was going to be fine, she couldn’t help the small inkling of worry. Her hand went out to touch his as Gandalf started his magic thing. The burning on her skin increased to an almost unpleasant high before she was pulling away. She watched fascinated as the scrapes on Thorin’s face slowly disappeared while his eyes blinked open.

“The half-ling?” With the King’s gasp for words, Amber got to her feet. He was going to be just fine.

She caught a look from Gandalf and paused. There was searching in his eyes as well as an understanding. He nodded to himself before turning away. Amber blinked at him for a moment before continuing on her original path. Her feet carried her to stand next to Dwalin with the princes on her other side. She followed Thorin on his path to hugging Bilbo with a slight grin on her lips. They all made it out alive and well like she knew it to happen. It didn’t take long for a small bird to fly over heard and get Oin calling out that it was a Raven. Gandalf corrected him as they all looked out over the Carrock to where the lonely mountain was rising in the distance. A sigh left her as Bilbo said that the worst was behind them. No, the worse had yet to come.

“Al’ight, lass. Let’s get those wounds looked at.” Amber looked around the princes to where Oin was coming towards her. She scrunched up her face and started to shake her head before she was being pulled forward.

“I’m fine, Oin. Besides, we don’t have any material or herbs,” she said. Her eyes caught sight of her purse laying forgotten on the stone and couldn’t help her sigh of relief. “All we got is my allergy medicine and painkillers.”

“Don’t matter. Still gotta clean the wounds.” Oin had her sit on the ground and motioned for everyone to turn around so she could take off the cloak.

“With what, Oin? There’s nothin up here and we have nothing.” Annoyance was creeping up on her. She was tired and totally done with the last several hours. Her hands untied the scarf around her and let her cloak drop to the ground. It tugged away from the dried blood on her back that brought a curse from her lips.

“It certainly does nae look that bad,” Oin said.

“Yeah, no shit. I’ve already had several hours to heal from the lashings. The only thing your going to find is blood and scars.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared down at her sock covered feet. “There’s nothing we can do about the blood, so the only thing to worry about now is me stepping on something. Lost both of my shoes to those fucking dogs.”

“Lost what?” Oin poked at her back like he hadn’t heard a word she said. Which was a good possibility.

“My shoes, Doc. I lost my fucking sneakers to an overgrown pug,” she said. Her foot kicked out and hit a small stone. It went flying until it fell over the top of the rock. “Can we be done here? All I want to do is find a stream and wash off. Both myself and my cloak. The thing is a giant blood stain now.”

“You’ll be just fine, lass.” Amber had to stop herself from snapping at the old dwarf as he stood up. She grumbled under her breath as she wrapped her cloak back around her body.

Once on her feet again, she made her way to her purse. Almost everything that was inside was now laying on the stone. She cursed and grumbled to herself as she stuffed her Polaroid film, keys, pill bottles, wallet, and other odds back in the bag. The next however many days until they reach Beorn’s were going to be torture. She was already getting cold and her feet complained against walking over hard rock. Her eyes searched for her sword in the near vicinity but stopped when she didn’t find it.

“God fucking dammit!” The last of her patience and good mood flew out the window. She was so done with this entire journey. Her foot shot out to kick a stone and sent it sailing over the side of the rock. “Don’t even think about it, Bofur.” The presence behind her came to a stop with a confused laugh.

“How’d ye know it was me?” The dwarf took the last few steps to stand next to her.

“I just did.” Her short answer got her nowhere as he started laughing. She shot him a glare and crossed her arms to wait for him to finish. After a few moments his laughing calmed down to nothing but a grin on his face.

“Ye really are somethin’, lass.”

“So I’ve been told,” she said. She turned to look back at the rising sun with a frown. “If you’re done, I’d like to be left alone to finish sulking in peace.”

“I’m afraid ye aint’ gonna get much peace. There’s a certain dwarf ready to give you talking too after that stunt ye pulled,” Bofur said. Amber snorted and looked over her shoulder. Her eyes sought out Dwalin and found him talking with his brother and Thorin. Balin glanced in her direction at the right moment and caught her staring. The studying look on his face made her uneasy; causing her to turn back to Bofur.

“He can shove it. I wasn’t going to just let Bilbo die.” She shook her head and sighed. Being upset and angry took more out of her than she had at the moment. “I’m so tired, Bofur. That trip through the goblin caves… It- I can’t even explain it. It’s like they took all of my energy. Then the orcs, and I just. I’m done with this journey. I can’t do it anymore.” She sighed and wrapped her arms around herself in a tight hug.

“Lass, ye can’t give up now. Yer one of us, and we’re so close.” Bofur lifted a hand to put on her shoulder but came to a stop at the last second. She didn’t look at him as her gaze stayed trained on the horizon.

“This isn’t my quest, Bofur. I shouldn’t even be here.” The burn of tears started up in the back of her throat but she pushed them down. “You’ll reach the mountain just fine without me, and I-. I have nothing holding me here other than a heart that doesn’t know when to quit. Just, just let me go. Bofur, please.”

Tears dripped down her cheeks in quiet rivlets. They fell from her chin to plop on the stone. She couldn’t find it in herself to cry or sob; which just left her standing watching the sun rise with tears running down her face. Everything had finally caught up with her, and she really just wanted to go home. Her heart burned in her chest at the thought of seeing her family again, but also hurt at knowing she’d leave behind everyone here. She really didn’t think she could handle the rest of this story. If just the first section took that much out of her, what was going to happen when they reached Mirkwood? Or Laketown? Or the mountain with Smaug? The battle that claims so many lives? What was she to do when she could hardly handle someone touching her?

“Oh, lass.” There was a shuffling of feet next to her before the slightest touch to her arm. A rush of comfort, sadness, and understanding hit her from the small touch. “It’s not me that’s gonna try and make ye stay. I can let ye go when that’s the best thing for ya.”

“Please, don’t touch me.” She leaned away from him and turned her body towards the horizon. Oh how much she wished to be away from here. “I can’t go home, no matter how much I wish too. You might be able to let me go, but I can’t.” Her voice was quiet and easily taken away by the soft breeze. “Just let me be for a while. I’ll be back in your hair in a little bit.” A fake grin was sent his way that she knew he wouldn’t believe.

“Take care of yerself, Amber.” The use of her name had her opening and closing her mouth in surprise. Bofur gave her a small sad smile before turning away. She watched him walk away for a moment until she turned back to the sky. She could handle this; she just needed a few minutes to pack away everything that happened.

When the day finally started to get in motion, they started on the way down the Carrock. Amber put herself at the back of the group to keep the others from touching her and to not slow them down. Her feet ached from the hard stone but she kept her mouth shut. She’d done enough complaining for the day. With nothing to eat or drink, the first thing that needed to be done was find a stream; she was much too out of it to be helpful. Everything was passing her by like the wind. She knew what was going on, but couldn’t find it herself to care.

By midday she was about ready to fall asleep on her feet. She was lagging behind the group slightly in her sluggish movement. And would have fallen behind further if not for Dwalin stopping. Nothing was said between them as he motioned for her to climb up his shoulders. Her cloak got caught on his axes when she stepped up his back, but with a little tug it was back in place.

Once on his shoulders, he started back for the group again. She yawned and crossed her arms on his head, laying her head on her wrists. Strands of her hair fell down to brush his face, but he didn’t say anything this time. From his grip on her legs she could pick up on the slight annoyance and several other things that she was too tired to try and discern. Her eyes fell closed with another yawn parting her lips.

“Thank you, Rose.” The words were quiet and almost unintelligible in her tiredness. There was a grunt of acknowledgement from Dwalin, but she was already falling asleep.


	12. Chapter 12

When she woke up, she knew more than a few hours had passed. The sun was setting behind a wall of clouds and she was in someone's arms. An ache had settled into her body from not moving in so long and made her groan in pain. Her shifting earned her being set on the ground. She rubbed her eyes with a yawn and looked up to see Bofur staring down at her. A tired grin made its way onto her face that was mirrored by the hatted dwarf.

"Glad to see ye finally awake, lass," Bofur said. She hummed and stretched her arms over her head; moving her cloak further down on her chest than necessary. "It's been little over a day."

"Mm, coulda been longer." She clambered to her feet and shook out her hair only to find it pulled back into two braids. Her eyes turned to Bofur with a question on her face.

"Aye, I fixed yer hair. It was a right mess."

A thank you was on her lips, but never got the chance to pass them. She spun around as the sound of someone sliding down a rock caught her attention. Bilbo came to a stop in the middle of the group. Ah, so this was where they were in the story. Instead of paying attention to the conversation, she sought out her purse. Her eyes caught sight of it hanging from Nori's side and had to stop the small stab of panic. The thief would have no qualms against going through her stuff. And if he came across her cameras or phone then there was no way he was going to let her by without finding out what they were. She met his eyes and found that he already had questions. They were going to have to wait until they reach Beorn's though.

With Gandalf's words, everyone took off after him down the rocky incline. Amber cursed and struggled without her shoes. Rocks and other pointy things stabbed her bare feet; but she would have to deal with it for the next few hours. She kept close to the middle of the group to avoid getting left behind. As the sky grew darker and the surrounding area got so dark she could hardly see, she knew this was going to be the worst of the trek. More than once she felt something pierce her skin and tear through her socks. She could feel something stuck in her heel but couldn't stop to pull it out.

When the sun was just on the rise they heard the howls of the wargs. Bombur came to a stop in fear before Thorin was pulling him along by his beard. The forest was coming to an end but they still had a ways to go. Amber was limping and ready to ditch her cloak as it kept getting caught on sticks and bushes. But despite her discomfort, she wasn't tired. Her day and a half nap was doing her body good and had restored the lost energy. She was in a surprisingly good mood even with all the running.

Her eyes roamed the field they burst out into with little interest. It was beautiful, but she didn't have time to stop and admire it. She did trip on a hole and went tumbling to the ground. A hand reached down and pulled her up without stopping in their running. She knew it was Gloin without seeing his face; like she knew where everyone was around her without looking. She shook off his grip and carried on just behind him. They passed through a large gate and came to a stop in front of a giant door. Amber rolled her eyes as Fili and Kili banged on the door without reaching up to undo the lock. Just as she was about to push through to do it, Thorin pushed up the latched. The doors sprung open to allow everyone through. She whirled around to help shut the doors with the dwarves as a giant bear head came through the gap. Her hands went to push on his muzzle until it disappeared out the doors.

"What is that?" Ori asked, looking up to Gandalf.

"That is our host." Silence swept through the large house at the wizard's words. "His name is Beorn, and he's a skin-changer."

Amber twitched her nose and turned away from the wizard. She already knew all about their host and his less than tame animal side. A sharp burn traveled up her legs from her foot and forced her to the ground. She sat down on the step leading up to the kitchen and pulled her leg up over her other knee. Blood dripped to the ground and coated the entire bottom of her foot. Her sock was absolutely disgusting and she had trouble pulling it off. A curse slipped from her mouth as she felt around for the wound. What she did find was something hard poking out of the bottom of her heel. She clenched her teeth and pulled at the thing. It remained lodged in her heel until she yanked it out with enough force to have a spurt of blood shoot out of the wound.

"You alright?" Bilbo asked, looking a little green in the face at seeing the blood fountain. Amber held up the inch long thorn that was stuck in her foot.

"I'm fine. But who knew locust trees existed here," she said. The thorn was coated in blood and dripped on the stone floor as she held it up to the light. She hummed in thought at the thorn before setting it down next to her.

"What's a locust?" The question came from Kili as he came to stand next to her. His eyes looked from her bloody foot to the thorn with a grimace on his face.

"It's a tree that has thorns that grow along the branches. I wouldn't've expected to find them out here, but they are a nuisance in a garden. The blooms smell and look nice, but the thorns are not worth it," she said. She picked up a corner of her cloak and wiped off the blood on the thorn and her foot. "Here. Go stab your brother with it or something. I'm sure Thorin would get a kick out of it." The clean thorn was placed in Kili's hand with a wicked grin on her face.

"That sounds like a terrible idea," Kili said. He turned the thorn in his hand before testing its sharpness out on his finger. A drop of blood beaded on his finger. "I'll do it." He gave Amber a grin before starting towards his brother.

"You are a bad influence," Bilbo said.

"I never said I was a good one." Amber cleaned the rest of the blood off her foot and stood up. The hole was already closing with a scab over it. She gave him a grin before going to snoop around the house; hopefully to find some clothes.

In her snooping, she found an almost empty room. Piled inside were a couple of boxes but nothing else. She tilted her head to the side but moved to open one of the boxes. Inside were several pairs of shirts and pants that looked close enough to her size. Before she pulled any out she opened another box next to her. She paused at the sight of toys and books. Another box opened and she found pages upon pages full of drawings; like those of either a young child or early teenager. An understanding came over her at the sight. Beorn used to have a kid. Sadness crept up on her the longer she sat looking at all of the old toys and drawings. She sniffed and wiped at her face before closing the boxes. Without taking a single piece of clothing she left back out of the room.

When she came back into the main room she found several of the dwarves surrounding Nori. She narrowed her eyes at the dwarf as he turned her phone in his hands. The clearing of her throat got everyone looking at her. Her eyes looked from each of them to the things spread out around them. Much like she thought they were looking at the stuff in her purse. Oin was reading the labels on her pill bottles; or at least trying too. Fili and Kili were looking through her wallet with her driver's license and money sitting in a pile between them. Ori had a pen in his hands and his book in the other. Bofur and Nori were looking over her phone and her pack of gum. What really got her attention was the fact that Thorin and Balin had her cameras.

"Not the cameras, please." She stepped around the others to grab the metal items back. Balin handed the digital one back with little problem, but Thorin continued to turn the Polaroid in his hands. "If you want to know how it works, you have to give it back." Her hand was held out for the camera with the digital in the other.

"You will show us how it works, correct?" Thorin waited for her confirmation before placing the camera in her open hand. She sighed in relief and moved to put the digital one back in her purse.

"Right." She turned back to the King and held up the Polaroid. "Don't move." A protest started up in dwarves but she had already clicked the capture button. There was a clicking noise and whir before a photo was sliding out of the camera. She picked it out and shook it for a few moments. More habit than the actual need to do so. "It doesn't hurt anything. It's called a camera and it takes pictures."

The photo in her hand was clearing up to show the surprised face of Thorin. She handed it to the dwarf with a smile. Balin looked at it with Thorin and couldn't hide the shock on their faces. A laugh left her as she moved to take the photo back.

"What kind of witchcraft is that?" Gloin asked from next to his brother. Amber turned around and handed the picture to the dwarf to look at it.

"I call it technology, but witchcraft is a good enough word for it I guess. It's really just light and glass lenses, and chemicals and silver compounds to make it so the image you see comes through on the negatives," she explained. From the blank looks from the dwarves she knew she had lost them. "Just go with witchcraft, it's easier."

"How many of these things can you make?" Balin asked. Amber looked away from the photo passing hands to the old dwarf.

"A few. I don't know how much film is left in the camera, but I have another set if that runs out." She leaned down to pick up the cartridge sitting off to the side. "I can only get eight out of this and however many are left in the camera." The camera in her hand was placed back in her purse as she moved to sit next Nori. He still had her phone in his hands but was also looking over the photo in Bofur's hands.

"I would appreciate it, if you asked next time." She plucked the phone from his hands and turned it so the screen was facing her. She hadn't tried to turn it on since she got to Middle-Earth, and was more than certain the battery was dead.

"What is it?" Nori handed to picture up to Dwalin while turning to her.

"It's called a phone. And I'm not quite sure how to explain it." She pressed the button on the side of the phone and the screen lit up. "Hey! It's not dead!"

"Is it alive?" Fili asked. Amber pressed her thumb to the home button to unlock the screen. A hum left her as she looked up to the young dwarf.

"What? Alive? No, nothing like that. It had a battery that holds an electrical charge that keeps it running." She knew they wouldn't understand and just shrugged at their confused expressions. A beep caught her attention. The battery only had twenty percent left. She huffed a laugh at the device; it should have died within the first week of being in Middle-Earth. Her eyes searched the top bar to see if she had service and wasn't surprised to see it missing. She wondered for a moment if her charger pack was still in her purse, but pushed the thought away from another time.

"What does it do?" Bofur asked. Amber tapped on her gallery before looking back to him.

"Oh it doesn't do anything important. But I can show you my family with it." She pulled up her family album and selected the first photo. It was of her eldest sister and her five year old son. They were all in her parents' backyard for the kid's birthday. "This is my oldest sister, Ellen, and her son, Toby."

She held the phone in the center of the group so all of them could see what was on the screen. Ellen's dark blonde hair was up in its usual messy bun with her blue eyes shielded by a pair of sunglasses. In the background was her husband and their white pitbull. Toby had his father's red hair and his mother's blue eyes; and the biggest grin on his face.

"The kid's only five, but he already as his mother's big personality." She flicked the image to the side to reveal one of her second sister. Paige had lovely dark hair and green eyes; and was taller than their father. The picture was taken just after one of her championship games so she was still in her jersey and sweating. "That's my other sister, Paige."

"This is my mom." The next picture was of a tall, curly haired woman. She had an unimpressed look on her face and a pair of glasses on her nose. "I was always told I looked more like her than my dad." Amber flipped through several more pictures until she found the last one she had of her father. The man was sitting in front of a car with his long dark hair hanging over his shoulders. There was a scruffy beard on his face full of white hairs. A large white dog was by his side and a crippled cat in his lap.

"This is the last photo I have of my dad. You'd never see him without that dog or cat; it's like they were glued to his side." She laughed to herself and shut off the phone.

"What happened to him? Your father, I mean." Bilbo's question had her turning to him. A soft smile on her lips at his innocent question.

"He died four years ago." Silence swept over the house at her words. Amber shook her head their solemnness. "Lighten up. The old man would come back to life just to smack me if he knew anyone was upset over his passing. He was a stubborn man, but forever ready for anything. Hell, he made us promise to get drunk and high off our asses at his funeral. Which we did."

"You have very odd customs, Miss Amber," Ori said.

"So I've been told." She laughed again and pulled her phone closer to her body.

"How did you come by such items?" Balin asked. Amber scrunched up her face at the question before looking to Gandalf. She was getting tired of keeping up that she was from Middle-Earth. She wanted to be able to talk about her family and life without fear of them finding out where she was from. The comfort that came from talking about home was something she severely needed; and would continue to need. Gandalf looked back at her before turning away; leaving her to decide on her own. Her eyes turned to Thorin to find him sitting with his arms crossed, just waiting for her to decide.

"They're from my home." She looked to Balin then at the rest of the group. All of their eyes were trained on her; waiting for her to continue. She met Dwalin's sharp gaze and had to look away. "Look, I'm so tired of hiding from you lot. I know you've noticed how I avoid talking about where I'm from and everything to do with my life before this quest. I know you've wondered about my way of talking and clothes; and even my physical appearance." She looked over to Ori then to Nori and Bofur. A sigh left her and she hugged herself tightly. "I'm from a different world. Not Middle-Earth, but somewhere similar."

It was quiet around her for a few moments. Then the dwarves burst out into shouting and questions. Amber cringed and looked up to Thorin with a nervous grin on her lips. The dwarf King raised an eyebrow at her but gave her the smallest of lip twitches in a smile. She broke out into a grin and laughed that brought the dwarves to silence once again.

"It's fine if you don't believe me, I don't think I would believe me either. But everything I've said and will say is the truth. Just ask Gandaf or Thorin."

"Don't drag me into this," Thorin said. Amber shot him a grin and brought the dwarves' attention to him.

"You knew of this?" Bofur asked, not caring that he was questioning his King. Amber looked between the hatted dwarf and Thorin; trying to understand why it was important.

"I told him back in Rivendell," she said. The attention was drawn back to her. "Gandalf knew from the moment I arrived in the Shire, and I guess Thorin figured out something was up during the first leg of the trip. It seemed only fair to tell the leader of this company where I was from."

"When were ya goin to tell the rest of us?" She turned to Nori with a frown growing on her lips.

"Never." There was another outburst from the dwarves that Thorin silenced with a single shout. "My plan was to get through this and get home before anyone else found out. Hell, I wanted to leave the second I saw Gandalf standing over me."

"Do you know how to get back?" Dori asked. She looked to the older dwarf and started to shake her head.

"I have no idea. I don't even know how I got here in the first place. One second I was on my way to meet up with my sisters and the next I was falling to the grass of the Shire. I'm just hoping there is a way back and I'm not stuck here forever." She pulled her cloak tighter around her body and curled in on herself. A hand came to rest on her shoulder that she was quick to shrug off. There was no desire to feel someone else's offered comfort.

"Would stayin' here be so bad, lass?" Oin's question got her looking up from the stone floor. She blinked at him and then looked to the rest of the group. Each of them wore a different expression, but she stopped at Dwalin. He remained impassive but still watched her.

"This isn't my world. Isn't my home." She looked away from the dwarves to rest on the phone sitting in front of her. "My family isn't here. I have nothing to my name here, and no place to live should I be stuck. No, it wouldn't be terrible being stuck here. But I'd be miserable without my family." A sigh left her as she reached out a hand to pick up her phone. "Not to mention, my stars aren't in the sky."

"I'm sorry about that, lass," Balin said. She knew he was thinking back on the night where she broke down.

"You didn't know." Her fingers worked to turn on her phone and find the star album in her gallery. There were both saved photos and some pictures taken by her in the album. She pulled up one of the Aurora Borealis. It had taken her four days and nearly freezing to get the picture out in Iceland. Once the photo was up, she put the phone back in the center of the group. Several gasps echoed around the group at the stunning sight of the green and purple lights in the dark, star filled sky.

"It's called the Aurora Borealis. It can only be seen at night in the Northern part of my world." The picture was swept to the side to show a clear image of the Milky Way spread out above a lake. "That's the Milky Way. It's the galaxy that holds my Solar system. Then there's the North Star that starts the constellation of the Little Dipper. The Big Dipper is usual right next to it. There are several more constellations that change with the rotation of Earth and which stars are visible in the night sky."

"There is something similar to your lights here as well, Miss Amber." Gandalf's voice had everyone looking in his direction. He was smoking his pipe while sitting on a chair next to a hearth. "They do not have a name, but they can be seen in the winters above the northernmost point in the Blue Mountains."

"Really?" Amber grinned up at the wizard as the dwarves looked to each other.

"I have never seen such lights," Bofur said. Bifur carried on in Khuzdul next to him that nobody could understand from how fast he was talking.

"Were you looking, Master Dwarf?" Gandalf's question got the hatted dwarf pondering. "You're quite right, Bifur. They are hard to spot even in the winter."

"Wait! You've seen them?" Amber whirled around to stare at Bifur. She was more than ready to hear all about the lights above the Blue Mountains. Stars were one of the few things that she loved more than photography. "What were they like?"

For the next several hours, until the sun was starting to set in the sky, Amber listened to Bifur go on about the stars that he knew. A few other dwarves added their input but let Bifur do most of the talking. Not once did she stop to wonder why she could understand the Khuzdul that the dwarf spoke in; far too interested in what he was saying and not in what language.


	13. Chapter 13

As the night continued on, Amber found herself sleeping between Nori and Bilbo. The dwarves had asked more about her world before she shut them up by going to sleep. But her sleeping didn’t last long. Half way through the night she was up again and petting all the animals inside the house. She puttered around until the sun started rising and the sound of chopping wood started. She knew it to be Beorn but she didn’t want to meet the skin-changer at the moment. Instead, she placed herself on a bench at the table and watched as the dwarves started waking up. It wasn’t long before everyone but Bilbo was standing by the front door.

“I say we leggit and slip out the back,” Nori said. He looked from her to the others as Dwalin came up to grab his collar.

“I’m not running from a fight.”

“There won’t be a fight,” Amber said. She turned from the window Bofur was standing in front of, to the warrior. “And if there is, we won’t win.”

“Do you doubt our skills?” The question got her laughing and shaking her head.

“Doesn’t matter your skill, Dwalin.” She met his eyes with half grin on her lips. “There’s an eight foot man out there that can change into a giant fucking bear. We all stand five foot or less. That is not a fight we can hope to win. And besides, there isn’t going to be a fight. Just don’t be jackasses, and we’ll be fine.”

Dwalin went to say something when Gandalf cut him off. Everyone turned to him as he gave them instructions on how to come out and not over crowd the man. Amber watched mildly amused as the wizard disappeared out the door with Bilbo in tow. She munched on a carrot as Bofur directed the dwarves out of the house despite not knowing what the signal was. Thorin ushered the last of the dwarves out the house before pulling her up. She stuck her carrot in her mouth and stepped out of the doorway to stand next to Thorin. Her eyes adjusted to the bright sun and met Beorn’s over the dwarves’ heads. Something passed through the brown eyes that made her curious. It was obvious he knew more about her than she had let show.

When they re-entered the house, Amber took care to avoid the giant man. She placed herself on the bench next to Kili with Dwalin at the end of the table. Her fingers tapped on the table in a nervous beat. There was something going on around her that she was curious to find out about. Beorn knew about her in some capacity despite the fact that she had never met him or been to Middle-Earth before. His eyes would search her out as he spoke about the skin-changers and their path through Mirkwood. She followed him as he walked around the table.

“I don’t like dwarves. They are greedy and blind; blind to the lives they deem lesser than their own.” Beorn picked up a white mouse that Bofur pushed off his arm. He held the small creature up to his face before looking down to her then Thorin. “But orcs, I hate more. What do you need?” The small mouse in his hand was held out to her. She looked up to him then the mouse before taking it from his giant palm.

“I have clothes, if you wish to change.” Amber looked down at her dirty cloak then up at the tall man.

“That’s would be amazing.” She hopped off the bench and stretched her arms over her head. A squeak left her mouth and the mouse still in her hand. She blinked and lowered her arms to put the small creature back on the table. “Lead the way. I would die for a change of clothes, and a pair of shoes if you have them. Wargs ate mine.”

“Come along, Aurë.” Amber furrowed her brows at the name and looked over at Gandalf for answers. The wizard didn’t spare her a glance as he puffed on his pipe. She shook her head and followed after Beorn further into his home.

He lead her through a hall and to the room she was in yesterday. She paused in the doorway to watch the tall man. Her foot tapped on the ground softly to keep her from saying anything that might upset him. A box was kicked towards her. She looked up to him then the box with a question clear on her face.

“He would have wanted you to have them,” Beorn said. She stepped into the room and crouched next to the open box. “I will leave you to get dressed.”

“Thank you.” Heavy footsteps followed her words. She flipped open the lid of the box and ran a hand over the top shirt. It was white with a red cloth sewn around the middle like a belt. She pulled it out along with a pair of white trousers.

A few minutes later she was dressed in the shirt and pants while still missing shoes. Her cloak and ruined socks were in a pile on the ground next to her while she dug for something close to socks. It surprised her to find a pair of gray long socks at the bottom of the box with a pair of heavy boots. She pulled on the socks and boots despite the fact they were a little too big for her. A hum left her mouth as she packed away the box again before taking down her hair. The braids were nice, but her hair was much too short for them now. She twisted the strands up into a bun that was held up with her last hair-tie. Now in her new outfit, she was ready to actually face the rest of this quest.

When she stepped back into the main area she found most of the dwarves missing. She shrugged to herself and made her way to her purse to find her lighter. The pile of cloak and socks in her arms was in severe need of burning. She hummed a song as she stole her lighter from Nori’s interested grip and made her way out of the house. A soft breeze was blowing and ruffled the small pieces of hair that wouldn’t fit in her bun. It was such a lovely day. Her feet carried her out of the gate and into the open field surrounding the house. The trees above her provided a nice shade as she sat down a little ways away from the hedges. She put her clothes on the ground and flicked the lighter until a flame sprung up.

“What are you doing?” A slightly accusatory voice spoke up from behind her. She looked over her shoulder to find Dwalin leaning against the tree closest to her. His arms were crossed over his chest and the knuckle dusters he wore caught the small beam of sunlight streaming through the leaves. The shine caught her attention more than he did. She really was attracted to shiny things.

“Burning my cloak and socks,” she said. Her eyes remained trained on the metal even as she lowered her hand to light her clothes on fire. A warmth sprung up in front of her to let her know that they caught fire.

“What’re you-” Whatever he was going to ask was caught off. Amber glanced up to him with a hum to find him walking closer. She turned back to her fire as he came to sit next to her. Something heavy was dropped into her lap and brought her attention down to it. Sitting in her crossed legs was one of his knuckle dusters.

“Shiny.” She picked it up to hold to the light. Without her input she started humming the beginning of Shiny from Moana. Her fingers traced over the carvings on the metal and twisted it around in her hands to run her fingers over the smooth metal that laid on the actual knuckles. “Do they hurt to wear? Or when you hit someone?”

“No.” The short brought a huffed laugh from her. She twitched her nose and flipped the weapon onto her own hand. It was much too big and drowned her hand in the heavy metal.

“It’s nice.” She moved to clasp the pieces around her wrist and slid her fingers through the rings that hold it to her hand. It was heavy and awkward on her. “They could do with a cleaning. To bring the shine back; more than what’s already there.” She lowered her hand into her lap and stared at the fire light reflected on the metal. “I think I need a set of my own.”

“They do not fit you.” Amber looked over to Dwalin to find him looking at the duster on her hand. She held out her wrist for him to take the metal back with a grin growing on her lips. The weapon didn’t even need to be unclasped to be slid off her fingers and wrist back into his careful hands.

“Weapons don’t suit me, no. But you have to admit, I’d look great with a set.” She held out her hands as if showing off just how good knuckle duster would look. All she got from Dwalin was a grunt, but not in agreement or disagreement. “Ah, come on. I look amazing with metal.” She tilted her head to the side to show the heavy earring resting on her right side. It honestly didn’t match her small topaz one, but she didn’t care.

“Would’ve thought you got rid of that useless article.” Dwalin looked to the gem with mild disgust on his face.

“It’s not that bad!” She shoved his shoulder lightly and shook her head with a laugh. “Besides, I just need a matching set.” Her hand came up to poke the gem before she dropped her head to his shoulder. “Can you wear earrings? ‘Cause in most places in my world men wearing jewelry is frowned upon.” She looked up to his face to find her watching the dying fire. Her eyes moved to what was left of his right ear to find a metal piece wrapped around the top of it. There were carvings on it, but she didn’t know what they meant.

“Most of us choose not to wear such items.” Amber hummed at him but didn’t say anything. Just as he was about to go on a distinctive clicking sounded from behind them. She leaned away from Dwalin to look over her shoulder; searching out where the noise came from. Standing just behind a tree was Bofur with her Polaroid in his hands and Fili and Kili behind him with the photo.

“I don’t remember showing you how to use that,” she said. Climbing to her feet, she stamped out the fire before turning to the dwarves. As she moved closer to them she heard Dwalin get to his feet as well.

“Ye didn’t, lass. But it ain’t that hard.” Bofur turned the camera in his hands with a grin on his face. She laughed while coming to stand in front of him.

“How’d it turn out, boys?” She looked to the photo in Fili’s hand only to have him press it to his chest.“That bad?”

“It’s not that,” Fili started.

“It’s perfect!” Kili finished, taking the photo from his brother. He turned it around to show to her with a bright grin on his face. She held up a hand to tilt the picture upwards and paused at the image. It was of the back of both her and Dwalin. The trees cast a shadow over them, but the fire brought a glow that lit up part of them. If it wasn’t daytime the picture would’ve been amazing.

“Not bad. It would’ve been better taken at night so that the fire was the only light, but it’s pretty good for a first shot,” she said. She moved to take the picture from Kili only to have someone else grab it. The photo looked tiny in Dwalin’s hands. She continued to look at it over his arm with a smile on her face. It really was a good picture.

“I’m gonna show Thorin,” Kili said. He reached for the photo only to have Dwalin move it out of his way. Amber snickered at the sight of Kili jumping for the picture that was being held over his head. She shared a look with Bofur and Fili before climbing up Dwalin’s back to grab the photo out of his hand. With the item now in her hands, she hung over one of his shoulders to stuff it into Kili’s waiting hand.

“I’d run if I was you. If you wish to keep that,” she said. The young dwarf looked from her to Dwalin before catching his brother’s arm and taking off. She laughed as she slid off Dwalin back to the ground. “They’re a mess.”

“That they are, lass. But so are the rest of us,” Bofur said. He turned to her and Dwalin with a grin on his lips. All he did was give her a wink and her camera back before following after the princes. She shook her head at his retreating figure with a laugh. That dwarf really was something different.

“Come on.” She looked over to Dwalin with a grin painting her lips. “Let’s go get back at them. I have a marker in my purse that will work.”

The night was slowly closing in when things settle down around Beorn’s house. Amber had taken her marker and drawn on Fili and Kili’s exposed skin. They had spent several hours trying to scrub the black ink off their skin while she laughed at them. Thorin had gotten on to her, but she found that Dwalin found it somewhat funny. She had avoided staying in the house for most of the day and had Bofur outside with her to take pictures of the animals. He was both enthused and entirely done with it by the time the sun was setting. They had gone through what was left of the film in the camera and put in the last cartridge to finish up the last picture of the setting sun. She was the most relaxed she’d been in a while. As were the others from what she could feel in the air.

Dinner was done with and had seen all of the dwarves gathering around the large hearth. Amber did all she could to avoid Beorn, but there was nothing she could do when everyone was in the main room. The only thing that made the odd tension better was the fact that there was alcohol. She was just finishing her second mug of ale when Bofur started pushing her to sing. There really wasn’t a song in her mind at the moment, but with Bofur’s pestering she sighed a dug up one she hadn’t heard in a long while.

_Happiness hit her, like a train on a track _

_Coming towards her, stuck still no turning back _

_She hid around corners and she hid under beds _

_She killed it with kisses and from it she fled _

_With every bubble she sank with a drink _

_And washed it away down the kitchen sink_

She liked the song well enough, but she wasn’t sure how the dwarves were going to take it. There were going to some things within it that they wouldn’t know of. It was either going to make the song, or break it in their eyes.

_The dog days are over _

_The dog days are over _

_The horses are coming _

_So you better run _

_Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father _

_Run for your children, for your sisters and brothers _

_Leave all your love and your longing behind _

_You can’t carry it with you if you want to survive _

_The dog days are over _

_The dog days are over _

_Can you hear the horses? _

_‘Cause here they come _

_And I never wanted anything from you _

_Except everything you had _

_And what was left after that too, oh _

_Happiness hit her like a bullet in the back, back , back… _

_Struck from a great height _

_By someone who should no better than that_

Her voice mingled nicely with the crackling of the fire. While she knew the next part was repetitive, she could never leave it out. There was just something so different about this song.

_The dog days are over _

_The dog days are over _

_Can you the horses? _

_‘Cause here they come _

_Run fast for your mother, run fast for your father _

_Run for children, for your sisters and brothers _

_Leave all of your love and your longing behind _

_You can’t take it with you if you want to survive _

_The dog days are over _

_The dog days are over _

_Can you the horses? _

_‘Cause here they come_

The last little bit was hummed out and echoed in the quiet house. She looked around the room to find everyone staring at her. It would have made her squirm if she hadn’t already been on the way to tipsy.

“You have a nice voice, Aurë.” Beorn’s voice had her snapping over to him. It was said like he already knew such a thing; but he had never heard her sing before. She narrowed her eyes at the name but thanked him for compliment anyway. There really was something going on around her.

“If that will be all. I have some things to discuss with Gandalf.” She climbed to her feet and reached out to grab the mug in Dwalin’s hand. He scowled at her but her let her take it. With the ale downed she gave it back to him and started off for the doors. Hearing footsteps behind her, she stepped outside and walked for a short while before turning around with her arms crossed.

“What ever do you wish to discuss, my dear?” Gandalf leaned on his staff but watched her with curious blue eyes. She sighed and paced in a small section

“Why does he call me that?” Seeing that the wizard was about to ask what she meant despite already knowing, she continued. “Aurë? That’s not my name, and he acts as if he knows me.”

“It’s quite the story, Miss Amber. And not one that is ready to spoken of.” Gandalf moved to sit on a bench just outside the doors. He motioned for her to join him as he pulled out his pipe. “Aurë means sunlight in Sindarin, if you wish to know.” She rolled her eyes at him and crossed her arms rather childishly. “It is not my place to tell you such things. You will learn of them in due time, but do not go asking around. It will draw in unwanted attention.”

“Gandalf, something weird is going on around here. And with me.” She sighed and dropped her chin into her hands. “Ever since Rivendell I’ve felt like I don’t need to sleep. Which is odd considering I was always tired before reaching that place. Then the thing where I can feel what someone is feeling just by touching them, or them touching me. Back in the goblin caves… I could see what they wanted to do to me. I… I can heal so much faster than should be possible for a human, or any other creature for that matter.” She stopped rambling and glared down at the grass.

“You have a strong connection with others. And it is not something to be taken lightly. And what of this healing?” Gandalf blew out a smoke boat and watched it float along the sky.

“That arrow wound I received healed in less than twenty-four hours. I made a cut on my arm and it was healed in six. Then I broke my nose and it only took a little over a day. With the lashings from the goblins they were probably healed soon after we left the caves. Just yesterday I had a thorn lodged in my foot, and I watched it scab over in seconds.” A heavy sigh was pulled from her lips and she leaned back. “There’s something in my blood. I looked at on that cliff and it sparkled. Like metal in the sun, Gandalf. What is going on with me?”

“I do not know what to say to you that would ease your thoughts. There is very little I can tell you.” She looked over at the wizard to find him watching the sky.

“I don’t feel like myself.” Her eyes followed his up to the stars. “I’ve done my best to push it from my mind, but it keeps coming back. I wish to be home and back to what I know. To my life and myself. Whatever is happening here, it isn't me.” She felt a pressure on her shoulders for the barest of moments before it was sweeping away; like it was never there. It felt almost like a hand, but she knew Gandalf had not moved.

“The time will come, I’m sure. You just need to be patient, my dear.” Gandalf puffed on his pipe again before snuffing it out. He got to his feet and looked down on her. “I’ll be taking my leave now, but do not dwell on such thoughts for long. It will do you no good.”

“Yeah, yeah. Go on, you. I’ll be fine out here.” She waved him off and hunkered back into herself. She would head back into the house in a few minutes; she just needed some time to herself. The wizard wished her a good night before leaving her in the night.


	14. Chapter 14

Against her word, Amber stayed outside all night. She sat on the bench watching the sky change above her with little thought. It felt like no time had passed when the sun started to rise. At seeing the first light in the sky she was stretching and heading back inside to gather up her things. Thorin wanted to leave today. She stepped around the dwarves and picked up her purse from where it was lying next to Nori. Everything but the pens were still inside. She had given them to Ori after showing him how they worked.

Her feet carried her into the kitchen where she sat at the table. The purse was set on the wood for her to go through. She wanted to know if her charger pack was still in one of the pockets, and if it had any charge left. Deft fingers poked around the pocket until she came across what she wanted. The black device was a solar charger that she bought specifically for her camping trip. A phone cord was wrapped around it along with a set of white earphones in the pocket. She didn't know why she never thought to check it before this moment. But she plugged in her dead phone and set the charger in a small patch of sunlight. It lit up with a green glow and phone beeped to show it was charging. She grinned and leaned her head on her hands to wait for the others to get up.

It wasn't long before the dwarves were up and moving. Breakfast was quick as was packing up the ponies that Beorn was letting them use. There weren't enough for everyone and left some of them to share. Amber had no issue sitting behind Dwalin, other than his axes in her face, and had her head pressed in between his shoulders. She was playing the only game on her phone that didn't require internet while they waited for Gandalf to finish talking with Beorn. There was a plan floating around in her mind that she was trying to hash out. Her earphones were already plugged into her phone as was the charger; and she had a long selection of music downloaded. While obviously they couldn't make too much noise, it left her with little option for entertainment.

A sigh left her mouth when she exploded all the bombs in Minesweeper. It was an old game but still quite fun when you knew how to play. She shut off the game and pulled up her song downloads. One earphone was stuff in her ear then she was sitting up with a smirk on her lips. She took the right earphone and stuffed it into Dwalin's ear. He smacked back at her and pulled the thing out of his ear with a grumble.

"Don't be like that, Rose." She moved to put it back in his ear only for him to grab her wrist.

"Keep that away from my ears," he said. She pouted and leaned to put her chin on his shoulder. The earbud dangled between her fingers and bounced against his neck with the movement of the pony.

"Please? It's just a thing so you can hear my music." He didn't answer her. She sighed and waited a moment before stuffing it into his ear again. Her hand was placed over his ear to stop him from taking it out. With her other hand she pressed play on the song pulled up on her phone.

"By Durin's beard, if you do nae remove yer hand from me, you're going to lose it." Dwalin ground out through his teeth. She looked at the side of his face and slowly took away her hand. The earbud stayed in place in his ear with little resistance. When his hand went up to remove it, she caught his fingers. "Woman-"

"Please, don't. This is the first time I've been able to share my world with any of you." Her voice was soft and verging on begging. She wanted so badly to share her music and world with him; to show him some of the things she lived and thrived off of. He was quiet for a moment; she could tell he was contemplating what she said. Then he pulled his hand from her grip and set it back on the reins.

"That wasn't so hard, now was it?" She grinned and moved to look back down at her phone. There was no sound coming out of it even though she pressed play. It was a song he had already heard her sing, but she forgot to turn the volume up. She restarted _The Willow Maid_ and turned up the volume so the music could come through.

Her chin was placed back on his shoulder as the song started up. She felt him tense at the noise but didn't do anything else. The soft music was much quieter than she liked to listen to, but she knew Dwalin wouldn't stand for it being super loud. They carried on in silence until the song ended. Then the loud crashing of a bass had her flinching and moving to skip the song to avoid hurting her ear. That one was only meant to be played in the car. The softer tune of _Hallelujah_ had her humming along.

They carried like this for the better part of an hour before her playlist took a different turn. It went from soft, smooth songs to old rock and classics. The guitar and drums had her bobbing her head as much as she could and Dwalin scowling. It only got worse when the actually singing started; and while she knew he didn't understand all the terms used, he got the picture of a lot of songs. _Pour Some Sugar On Me_ really got him trying to remove the earbud. She only laughed and skipped the song; for it to land on something much worse. The first words of _Candyman_ had her dying with laughter at the look on his face. The smallest dusting of pink was on his ears and had her laughing so hard she almost fell off the pony. She refused to change to song and forced him to sit through the suggestive lyrics with a bright grin on her lips.

She was honestly having more fun than she thought possible. The songs on her phone were nothing like those of Middle-Earth and had entirely different feels to them. It kept a smile on her face and laugh on her tongue every time the song changed. There was something completely different about showing Dwalin her music than it would be to show the others. While he did protest and grumble against quite a few songs, he willingly sat through them. It made her heart burn and her chest warm. If she hadn't realized back in the mountains that she felt more for him, it would have been in those moments. There was just something utterly different about him that kept her on her toes and laughing.

"I think you might get a kick out of these." She tapped on the first of many songs and cut off the shuffle. There were about ten or fifteen _The Jolly Rogers_ songs. They were simply hilarious and fun to listen to, no matter the time of day.

"I doubt it," he grumbled. She laughed and pressed play on _The Devil's Reach_. The odd way they sung their songs and the stories they told were always what drew her in. Her dad had showed her one of their songs years ago and she had loved them ever since.

She was right in saying he'd like the songs more than the others. A few of them were a bit much, but most of them were funny. When _Mutiny_ came up she singing along louder than she was before. It got a chuckle from Dwalin that had her grinning so hard her cheeks hurt. She would honestly do everything she could to hear him laugh for all the bad was still coming. But he couldn't know that, and she was going to make sure no one other herself knew.

After four hours of riding non-stop they came to the edge of Mirkwood. Amber was quick to stuff her phone and everything with it in her purse while Dwalin made a comment about the orcs. She slid off the pony just as Gandalf was getting off his horse. As much as she didn't want to draw attention to herself, she had to warn him at least the tiniest bit about what was coming. Her feet carried her close to the trees when a wave of stifling air swept over her. It was heavy and hot and full of something that she couldn't put her finger on. She heard Bilbo say that the forest felt sick while she watched Gandalf enter. Her eyes followed him through the elven gate and flinched when he brushed back vines to reveal the painted eye of Sauron. The threat of the Necromancer was much larger now that she was there; it was no longer just a vague thought in the back of her mind.

"I-I meant to tell you... That I found something in those goblin tunnels." Amber moved to join Gandalf and Bilbo. She caught the Hobbit's eyes and shook her head the slightest bit. The hand in his pocket disappeared to rest back at his side. A certain look was sent to her that had her wanting to look away.

"What did you find?" Gandalf asked, no doubt catching the exchange.

"My courage," Bilbo said.

"Well, good, good." Gandalf nodded and looked over at her with a frown growing. "You'll need it." He started to walk back to his horse when she caught his arm. She twisted her fingers into the gray robes and cast a look to the forest.

"Do not be surprised by what you find up there, Gandalf." She looked back up to the wizard with a serious look on her face. It wasn't often she was serious, but this was something that couldn't be handled lightly. Something changed in his face and the frown on his face deepened. "I know what you're thinking. And, please, do not underestimate him."

"How do you know this?" His voice was quiet and stern, keeping the others from hearing.

"It doesn't matter how, but what. And there are some you cannot trust." She held his gaze with her own mismatched eyes burning. She refused to outright tell him, but he needed to be warned of Saruman. That wizard brings only bad news and misery in the next sixty years or so. "Be careful, old man."

She stepped back from him and let go of her hold on his robes. The wizard regarded her with a look before turning away. All she could hope was that he listened to her. Gandalf hopped up onto his horse and looked down on them.

"This is not the Greenwood of old. There is a stream in the woods that carries a dark enchantment, do not touch the water. Cross only by the stone bridge. The very air of the forest is heavy with illusion. It'll seek to enter your mind and lead you astray." Gandalf turned his horse to the side but didn't look away from them. "You must stay on the path. Do not leave it. If you do you'll never find it again. No matter what may come, stay on the path."

With his last words he took off in the opposite direction. Amber watched him go with a constricting chest. This was where things really took a turn for the worst. While she didn't know all of the details of what happens, she remembers the main points. Being the spiders, getting captured by King Thranduil, barrels riding, Laketown, then the mountain. Just thinking about it brought a sense of dread over her. Oh, how things were about to go downhill too fast to try and stop it.

Entering the forest had her skin feeling like she stepped into the Midwest in spring. It was humid and the air was stifling. When she looked around at the others to see if they felt it she found them already moving further into the trees. She grimaced and followed after them. Her fingers ran over the elf statues until they changed into trees. She couldn't bring herself to let her fingers touch the trees; they felt gross to her. And she didn't think that trees could have so much influence over her.

To avoid the trees as much as she could, she placed herself just behind Thorin at the front of the group. While she didn't know where they were going, she would help them stick to the path as much as she could. She didn't know how long they stayed in the forest in both the movie and the book. It was always her least favorite part. The spiders made her skin crawl and she couldn't bring herself to really watch or read about them. There was just something disturbing about giant spiders.

The trees were just getting dark when she started humming. It was too quiet for her comfort. Though the song she was humming probably wasn't the best to be singing it had gotten stuck in her head. It might hit a little close to home for Thorin, but she really had been wanting to sing it for a while. If they would enjoy it or not, well she would just have to see.

_You're alone, you're on your own, so what?_

_Have you gone blind?_

_Have you forgotten what you have and what is yours?_

_Glass half empty, glass half full_

_Well, either way, you won't be going thirsty_

_Count your blessings, not your flaws_

Her singing earned her some very annoyed looks from the others. Even Thorin looked back at her with a warning glare. She just gave them a small smile and continued on down the path.

_You've got it all_

_You lost your mind in the sound_

_There's so much more_

_You can reclaim your crown_

_You're in control_

_Rid of the monsters in your head_

_Put your faults to bed_

_You can be King again_

She could feel the stares on her back. Most if not all the group was watching her sing. Thorin's stare was the most pressing, but merely met his gaze and carried on.

_You don't get what this is all about_

_You're too wrapped up in your self-doubt_

_You've got that young blood, set it free_

It was hard to keep her voice quiet, she managed well enough. Now whether it was good singing or not, well, she couldn't tell. The forest echoed oddly and sometimes it didn't echo at all. Which left all noise sounding muffled or too loud.

_You got it all_

_You lost your mind in the sound_

_There's so much more_

_You can reclaim your crown_

_You're in control_

_Rid of the monsters in your head_

_Put all your faults to bed_

_You can be king_

With the end of the song she fell quiet once more. Even her humming had come to a stop. Something felt entirely wrong around her; coming from the trees themselves. It was like they were watching her. She knew it wasn't the spiders for they dwelled further in the forest. But there was something else following her path. She didn't know what it was, but it was making her uneasy.

"What would ever bring you to sing such a song?" Thorin asked. She hadn't even noticed she joined him in walking. Her head turned to him but her eyes remained trained on the trees around them.

"It was stuck in my head. The best way to get rid of a song is to sing it," she said. With how this song went she didn't think she'd be singing any more during their trip through Mirkwood. This forest felt disorienting, but not enough to cause her problems. She knew how it affected the dwarves in the movie and she couldn't exactly feel the same illusion pressing down on her. It just felt hot and gross.

When they settled down for the night they couldn't make a fire. Large moths and other bugs would swarm the flames and made it impossible to do anything. Instead they had a cold meal that she wasn't exactly excited to eat. She leaned up against a tree watching the surrounding area as much as she could; which definitely wasn't much. The forest was eerily quiet and so were the dwarves surprisingly. Only Balin and Thorin were actually having a conversation. The others obviously were reluctant to speak less something in the trees heard them. All of them could feel the eyes watching them. But just as she thought that this night was going to be completely useless, Ori sat down next to her.

"Why is your hair changing color? It's not going gray like Dori's, you can't be that old." His voice was quiet but in the silence of the camp it could be heard clearly.

"Pink isn't my natural hair color." She picked up a strand of hair and even in the dark she could see the pink standing out. It wasn't so long that she could see the blonde, but she was sure it was going to be that way soon. Only a week ago she had cut it again and already it was hanging passed her shoulders. "I dyed it that color years ago and kept up on it. I don't think I've seen my hair blonde in close to three or four years."

"How did you change it to pink?" Ori asked, studying the strands without touching them.

"A lot of chemicals. It's not particularly good for my hair, but I like the pretty colors." She twirled the hair up into a bun to keep it off her neck. "I'm not going to be able to color it any time soon, so get used to the blonde."

"You don't look so different, why would we have to get used to it?" A laugh escaped her at the silly question. This was a silly conversation in general.

"You'll see later, when you can no longer glimpse the pink. It's like seeing a completely different person," she said. Over the years she has taken enough pictures of before and after of herself and others to know that a simple hair change can make someone unrecognizable. She heard a shuffling from next to her and brought her gaze to Ori. The dwarf was still next to her but was no longer looking to her. He was half asleep with his book open in his lap. She shook her head with a quiet laugh before resting her head back on the tree. It was about time for her to try and sleep; even though she knew she didn't feel the need too.

The next day was just as quiet as the one before. Amber followed at the back of the group with Fili and Kili. She tried to keep herself entertained without making too much noise but couldn't think of anything to do. It was like her brain refused to let her attention slip from the forest. Which could have been a good thing, but there was nothing around until much farther in. Her eyes moved between the trees and watched the bushes pass; she kept an eye on the stone path beneath them as well. Something darted in her peripheral but when she turned to look all that was there was a low hanging tree branch. Shaking herself, she carried on behind the princes.

_"Amber." _The sound of her name had her looking up from a stone she found. Nobody was looking back at her or even seemed to have said her name. She cast a look around but shrugged it off. What else was there for her to do?

A bush rustled next to her and had her spinning around. She peered at the leaves but found nothing out of the ordinary. Her skin started to crawl at the feeling of someone or something watching her. There was a whisper next to her ear that made her jump. Nothing was next to her. She spun in a circle before moving to catch up with the group. Something was so wrong with this forest. She had hoped to avoid whatever had enchanted the trees but something was messing with her.

_"Amber." _She looked over her shoulder but when she found nothing she looked back ahead. Maybe one of the dwarves actually wanted her attention.

"Did you say something?" Her voice echoed oddly in the quiet. Those closest to her looked back like she had grown a second head.

"No." The simple answer from Dwalin had her frowning. She could have sworn someone had been calling her name. Instead of focusing on it, she carried on in silence once again. Her eyes wandered the surrounding trees to try and find something but she came up empty handed.

A few hours later the sound of her name had her looking behind her shoulder. She had moved further up in the group and so a few others were behind her. But nobody looked liked they had said anything. She shook it off and faced forward again until her name was being called again.

"Will you cut it out?" She snapped at nobody in particular. This little game they were playing was getting mighty annoying.

"We aren't doing anything," Kili said. He was standing just to the side of her. She snorted but didn't say anything. This joke of theirs wasn't going to get anything from her; she would just have to ignore it.

That night had her sitting wide awake in the middle of their small camp. Everything was quiet with the exception of the dwarves snoring. She couldn't sleep but there was nothing for her to do. No one else was awake; she had taken to first few shifts to let the others sleep. The quiet of the forest was making her twitch for no reason. It didn't help that every few seconds she could swear something was moving. In the corner of her eye a shadow would pass and had her looking around.

A rustling had her getting to her feet. There couldn't possibly be spiders here already it was much too soon. The second she got to her feet the noise came to a halt. For a moment she stood waiting for the sound to come back. When it did it was coming from the other side of the camp. She spun around and started off for the noise. A flash of white caught her attention and had her moving to where it came from. Her feet were quiet on the grass as she stepped closer to the edge of the small clearing. There was a voice from further in the forest but it was too quiet for her to make out. The second she pushed past the bush a hand caught her arm. She spun around with her hand closed in her fist that was caught by another hand.

"Where do you think you're going?" Dwalin's voice was quiet like the rest of the forest. She pulled out of his hold and looked back over her shoulder at the trees.

"I saw something." She went to turn around but his hand coming to her shoulder had her stopping. A huff left her but she didn't make to leave the clearing again. Instead, she moved back to her place in the center of the camp.

"Why did you not wake us?" She felt Dwalin sit down next to her.

"You guys need to sleep. And it wasn't anything really." Or at least, it shouldn't have been anything. From what she remembered of both the movie and book there were no creatures still in the forest. Everything had either died or ran away. It made for a very unsettling feeling.

"Do you need not to sleep as well?" The question was not of curiosity; she could hear the challenging tone he was using. She snorted and crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm never tired. Haven't been for days; not since that two day nap I had," she said. She shifted enough to let her head fall to his shoulder. Her eyes continued to watched the surrounding but nothing seemed to be changing.

They fell into silence that wasn't to be broken. Or it shouldn't have been. Whispering started up in the trees that had her sitting up. She looked for the source of the noise but couldn't see anything through the darkness. A call of her name had her getting to her feet once more. There was a soft noise coming from just passed the bushes at the edge of their camp. Her feet tried to carry her over but a heavy hand grabbing her wrist had her stopping. Just as she was about to tell Dwalin off the noise from the bushes changed. From just a simple rustling became the quiet crying of a child. But it was more than just that. There was another sound, coming from above her.

It was one she had hoped to never hear again. The whining of a jet engine in the sky that was much too low. She had only ever heard that sound once before, and never again did she wish to go through the aftermath it brought.

The simple photoshoot she was supposed to do for a magazine turned into a fight for everyone's lives. Her small group was in one of the small middle eastern countries. They were there to help the large camp of people that were trying to survive after their town was bombed. After the pictures of how life was in the camp she was going to help with whatever she could have; but she never got the chance. Whoever their country was at war with wasn't one to leave any survivors behind. They dropped chemicals over the camp. It was thick and gray and deadly if one breathed it in. The gas masks that they had brought and those in the camp weren't nearly enough.

When whoever was left of their group got clear of the area they were picked up and brought back to the nearest city. For a few weeks after that incident she didn't leave her house. She worked on sending in her photos and trying her best to do something to help those they had left behind. But after that expedition she never heard anything about the country or its war again. Never again did she want to be caught in a situation like that.

And she knew there was no possible way she was. The jet engines were nothing but her mind playing tricks on her. There was no such thing in Middle-Earth. It didn't settle her nerves at the thought, but it did stop her from trying to hide. She shuddered as the noise grew louder before it started to fade away. The child's crying disappeared as well. Her chest constricted and had her dry heaving at the returning memories. She sunk to her knees and planted her hands on the ground. Tears burned in her eyes as she tried to stop her stomach from rebelling and to push away the deathly images in her mind.

A hand came to rest on her back. She squeezed her eyes shut and clamped her mouth closed to stop from puking. There was another round of crying that assaulted her ears. It was the same child from before, but who it was that she didn't know. She sat up and looked around the clearing to try and find where the noise was coming from. All she saw was Dwalin kneeling in front of her. She drew in a shuddering breath before lowering herself all the way to the ground. One arm went under her head while the other wrapped around her stomach. Her knees curled up close to her chest and she closed her eyes. For several minutes she laid there breathing until she moved to place her head on Dwalin's leg. She was almost surprised to find him still sitting with her. But it didn't matter in the moment as she was worn out and seeking comfort. For the rest of the night she stayed in the same position.

The whispers and calls of her name continued on into the next few days as well. It was annoying and making her paranoid. She couldn't tell when a noise was something everyone could hear or if it was just her. At one point she had completely ignored Thorin calling for her. She had started to wander from the path and would have continued to do so if he hadn't pulled her back. Her mind was doing its best to try and separate what was real and wasn't; it led to her not paying attention to where she was going.

One such point was when they came across the river. She bumped into Gloin's back because she wasn't looking where she was going. Stepping around the dwarf, she moved closer to the broken bridge. On the edge she could see the gross stagnant water with bugs flying around. She grimaced and turned away. Thorin called for the lightest to cross the vines to the other side of the water. She stepped back to Bofur and watched Bilbo hop along the vines. It was nerve wracking watching him pick his way across. She really didn't want to get anywhere close that water.

But she climbed along the vines behind Bombur. Her fingers dug into their holds to keep her balance; which wasn't a lot to begin with. She hopped to a higher up vine and clung to it above Bombur. Hearing him yawn she looked down. His grip was starting to slip on the vine.

"Shit, Bombur!" She let go of her vine with one hand to catch the dwarf's beard as he fell asleep. A yawn of her own parted her lips and made her grip loosen. Her fingers tightened on the orange beard and on the vine; but his weight was too much for her. Bombur slipped off the vines and pulled her down with him. She hardly had time to do anything as she fell face first into the water. 


	15. Chapter 15

A loud giggle had her turning around and away from the kitchen sink. Sunlight streamed through the windows to show that the sun was setting behind the horizon. She blinked at the light for a moment before her eyes adjusted. Another giggle brought her attention to the small boy hiding behind the counter. She would recognize the shock of red hair anywhere if she hadn't already known he was in the house. Ellen had dropped him off an hour ago so she could go out on a date with her husband. It left Amber in charge of the five year old; not that she minded, she loved Toby. He was honestly a delight to be around even if he could argue with the best of them. 

"Oh, where, oh, did he go?" She tapped her on her chin in thought while looking everywhere but the counter. Another giggle had her crouching and stepping around the island. Once she was behind him, her hands went out to grab his sides and pulled him into a hug. Her fingers danced on his ribs that had him laughing and squirming in her arms. 

"Nooo, stop! Please!" His voice and pleas were clouded by his laughter. Amber laughed with him before letting him run free. He spun around once he was a good distance away and gave her a beaming smile.

"Go pick out a movie. I have to make dinner." She stood back up and wiped her hands on her jeans. Toby nodded excitedly and bounded off into the living room where most of the movies sat on a shelf. 

She watched the doorway for another moment before moving to get a pot of water. Mac and Cheese was the easiest thing to make and that was what she had at the moment. In the living she could hear the shuffling of movie cases being put on the ground and things being moved around the Tv. She shook her head and pulled out everything need to make dinner. There was going to be a mess that she would have to clean later. A curious shout of her name had her peeking her head through the doorway. Toby was sitting on the ground looking at a set of movies on the bottom shelf. One was held in his hands. 

"Can we watch this one?" The movie was held up to her face as she stepped closer to him. It was the last movie in the Hobbit trilogy. She laughed and took it from his hands before crouching down next to him. 

"How about we watch the first one instead of the last?" She put the movie back and pulled out the first in the series. The dark case had her pausing only momentarily before she set it in Toby's hands. "You'll like it much more."

"Okay!" He got to his feet and moved to the Xbox sitting next to the Tv. She watched for a moment to make sure he didn't break anything before going back into the kitchen to finish dinner. 

Ten minutes later both of them were settled down on the couch with bowls of Mac and Cheese. Toby was bouncing in his seat waiting for the movie to start. It brought a smile to Amber's face; he really was too cute. She went through the motions of getting the movie pulled up and pressed play. The familiar music and beginning had her relaxing back. It had been a while since any of the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings movies, but they still made her excited to see them no matter how much time has passed. For a moment she listened to the movie before something started to tug at the back of her mind. 

It was a sense of deja vu that never should have come from watching a movie; especially one she's seen before. She pushed it away until the dwarves started showing up at Bilbo's home. Memories of another scene invaded her mind that she knew to never have existed in the movie. The entire scene felt genuine but she just knew it didn't happen. It was almost like her mind was trying to convince her of something that didn't happen or would never happen. She did her best to shake it away, but different scenes would assault her mind throughout the entire movie. The whole ordeal made it hard for her to enjoy the movie. But beside her Toby was out of his mind with enjoyment. He told her so when the movie rolled the credits. Then he proceeded to beg her to watch the second one; and since it was a weekend she didn't deny him. 

Amber pushed a strand of pink hair out of her face. It was far too warm in Africa for her to be enjoying the scenery. She was working to capture some pictures of the leopards and Dama Gazelles. The gazelles were going to be easier to find, but she most excited to be near one of the big cats. She was hoping to find one of the black leopards but she knew the chances were low. At the moment she was stationed in a small bush patch to watch a pack of gazelle. They were small and few. She had snapped a few pictures and was hoping one would be brave enough to approach her. It was unlikely but she couldn't help it.

To her surprise one of the older gazelles was quite bold. It picked its way across the dry land slowly; trying to determine if she was a threat. She held completely still and watched it out of the corner of her eye as to not scare it off. When it got within ten feet of her it came to a halt. It blinked at her as she slowly turned to look at it. For a moment she was sure it would bolt then it started to creep closer. She watched it sniff at her camera and bags before looking up to her. Meeting its dark eyes she almost felt that it could understand her and knew she wouldn't hurt it. There was a soft pressure behind her eyes that went on steadily as she had a staring contest with the creature. It stepped closer to her until its nose almost brushed her face. She was hesitant as she lifted a hand and brought it up to its cheek. The hair was smooth and warm beneath her fingers. A moment of something passed between them; it was like she was reading its thoughts or something of the like. There was no fear or the need to run from her, the gazelle was completely at ease with her. 

Then a dark cloud passed over the sun. A shift in the air had the creature bolting away from her. She shivered at the sudden darkness in the atmosphere. It wasn't just the shadow from the sun, there was something more in the air. A slimy feeling was passing over her skin that had her getting to her feet. That was definitely her cue to leave the area and probably never return. 

Her fingers scramble to push the snow out of her face. The cold substance was freezing her cheeks and making her nose run. She shook the snow off her body while getting to her feet. Loud laughing and giggling had her cracking a grin of her own. Ellen and Toby were over to play in the first real snowfall of the season; Toby really wanted to see his favorite aunt. They had ganged up on her and tackled her into a snow drift. 

"I'm gonna get you for that!" She leaned down to pick up a handful of snow and pulled her arm back to launch it at her sister. The small snowball hit her square in the chest. 

"This is war. Two against one; we're gonna win." Ellen picked up her own snow and got Toby to do it with her. Amber made a dive for another snow drift to hide behind as two snowballs came flying at her. She made a few of her own and moved to throw them at her sister and nephew. 

When her head popped up over the snow drift she couldn't find either of them. She squinted against the glare to look around the yard but couldn't find a whiff of their coats. Fear spiked in her chest as she stood up to search the front yard. Nobody was around. The snow showed signs of them having been their but it didn't show where they could have gone. She walked around the house to see if they were in the backyard but came up empty. Her chest constricted in panic when she couldn't find them. 

It only grew worse when a sound permeated the air. The jet engines had her crying out for her lost family before diving into the house. There was nothing she could do. Ellen and Toby had disappeared and she had nothing to fight the chemicals that were going to be dropped. She searched her house for them but once she came up empty handed she sat down on the couch. Her knees were pulled up to her chest where she hugged them tightly. This wasn't how she wanted to go out. But her car was out of commission and being caught outside was almost immediate death. Already she could hear the screaming and if she looked through the window she could probably see the thick gas. 

Tears stung her eyes as she buried her head into her knees. She didn't want to die; not yet. There was so much she had yet to do, so many people she had yet to meet, and one she never got to tell that she loved him. 

A soft breeze blew a few strands of hair out of her eyes. She blinked them against the soft sunlight streaming between the clouds. The camera in her hands was set into her lap. Her hands went out to tie up her long hair into a bun only for her to pause. Hadn't she cut it a week ago? It was much longer than she remembered it being. She shrugged it off and finished tying back the pink strands. 

A set of footsteps sounded from behind her. She looked over her shoulder to find a tall dark haired man walking towards her. The closer he got the more oppressive the air became. When he came to stand in front of her she felt as though she could hardly breath. She climbed to her feet but found she was comically short compared to the man. Unease settled heavy in her body the longer he stayed looking down at her. The moment she went to open her mouth to say something he spoke up. 

"So you are Amber Rays." His voice made her skin crawl and made her want to hightail it away from him. She didn't offer him anything, but he carried on like he didn't need her confirmation. "Not as I thought you would be."

"Who are you? What do you want with me?" She did her best to keep her voice from wavering. This man seemed to be the embodiment of evil. Everything was unsettling and wrong about him. 

"Who I am is of no concern at the moment." She tried to not scrunch up her face but she knew she had failed when the man stared her down. "As for what I want you for, it's simple. The knowledge you hold is all I'm seeking. Once you give me what I want, we will part ways."

"No." She shook her head and crossed her arms. There was nothing she could tell him and even less so that she would give willingly. This man was unwelcome and just wrong. He didn't belong here; she was pretty sure he didn't belong anywhere. "I have nothing to give you. We can part ways now." 

"You will tell me what you know." His voice dropped into a deep rumble that made fear rush through her blood. She went to take a step back but his hand came up to grab her arm. "Or I will tear it from your mind." 

"Let me go!" She struggled against his tight grip and kicked out at his legs. No matter what she did the man refused to be moved. It was like he was made of stone. "Fucking bastard! Let go of me!" Her hand came up to swing a fist at his face only to be caught by the other hand. The grip had her crying out in pain as the bones in her fingers ground together. 

"Tell me." He snarled into her face as he pulled her closer. She kicked out at his legs again while trying to pull out of his grip. There was a cracking sound before pain shot up her arm from her hand. The man had tightened his hand around hers until the bones started snapping under the pressure. She cried out in pain and struggled to pull away again. "I will break more than just your fingers if you do not tell me what I want to know."

"What'd you want?! I have nothing worthwhile to tell you." She could feel tears stinging her eyes but fought to push them away. Crying would do her no good. 

"The ring. Where is it?" Amber came to a complete stop. What ring? She didn't know anything about a stupid ring. 

"What fucking ring? I don't have a stupid ring." The man stared down at her. His dark eyes seemed to pierce right through her mind. She shifted under his gaze but didn't do anything to aggravate him. 

"It seems we will be doing this the hard way." He didn't loosen his grip on her arms even as she tried to pull away. 

Amber ducked her head away from the man's stare and put as much force as she could into swinging her foot up into his crotch. Unlike with every other man this one didn't budge. She spit at him but only got her hand crushed again. Just as she was about to headbutt him a sharp pressure started behind her eyes. It steadily grew stronger until she was crying out in pain. This was worse than any headache she'd had before. And whatever was causing it didn't seem inclined to stop. The pressure grew into something she didn't know how to handle. Just when she was sure she was going to die the digging hit a wall.

A bright white light burst behind her eyes when the thing hit the wall in her mind. Memories and feelings flooded her senses. Like a movie, her journey within the Hobbit played before her mind's eye. Everything she had forgotten came tumbling back in full force. The boisterous nights around a campfire, the detailed storying telling, the echoing laughter. Fili and Kili's mischief bright eyes and Ori's undying curiosity. Bilbo and Gandalf's odd riddles and Dori mother henning. Bombur's cooking and Bifur's stories. Gloin's reluctance to tell her about his family until she had pestered him enough to tell her. Oin's skillful hands with bandaging and treating all her wounds. Nori's different eyes and Balin's wisely given advice. Thorin and his rough exterior that held back just how much of a softy he actually was. Bofur with his silly hat and charming smile that never ceased to make her smile back. Dwalin and her training sessions and his way of comforting her when she didn't even know she needed it.

Everything was coming back to her. And there was no way she was going to let this man get any part of it. 

She did her best to throw up as many mind blocks as she could to stop him in his tracks. Already she knew he had found more than he should have. The deaths of Fili, Kili, and Thorin were at the forefront of her mind. She took all of the strength she had left and shoved him out of her memories and thoughts. But he already had something that she should have hidden much deeper.

Snow was slowly falling. The white flakes fell through the air but she couldn't give a damn about them. A battle raging on around her that had her full attention. The air was heavy with the scent of blood and the disgusting odor of orcs. She was doing her best to fight even though she had little training. And she was nowhere near where she should have been. She should be up on Ravenhill making sure that Fili and Kili didn't go into the tower and that Thorin wouldn't fight Azog by himself. It wasn't panning out that way though. Her feet were still down on the battlefield, fighting alongside Nori and Gloin. Where everyone else was she had no idea; and she never got a moment to think on it either. 

With the eagles coming down to help in the fight, Amber took off for Ravehill. Already in her heart she knew they had not survived, but she couldn't help to hope. The snow and rocks made it hard for her to climb but she got up to the frozen waterfall without serious injury. She slipped on the ice as she pushed herself to find where Thorin should have been lying at the edge of the water. Her eyes found his body along with Bilbo sitting down next to him. Tears burned her eyes but she refused to let them fall; she still had to find Fili and Kili. She moved towards the tower and up a little ways she found the broken body of the blonde prince.

"No, no, please." Her voice was quiet as she dropped to her knees next to Fili. His blue eyes were open wide in pain with blood leaking out of the corner of his mouth. She pressed her fingers to his neck to try and find a pulse. "No, Fili, no." All she felt was his cold skin. She leaned down to press their foreheads together until she couldn't stand to be there any longer.

With tears dripping down her face and a sob trying to escape she made for where Kili had been. When her feet slipped down the steps onto the platform she came to a stop at the sight of Tauriel. She was leaning over a body that could only be Kili. Amber choked down a sob and moved to make sure her assumption was correct. The elf heard her coming and looked up with a wet face. Neither said anything as Amber lowered herself to the other side of Kili's body. Her fingers went out to his neck like she did with his brother and came back with the same result. 

"I'm so sorry." She lowered her head to press her forehead to his cold one. Tears fell onto his face from her own. "I should have been here." 

She got to her feet once again and moved to leave Tauriel to her mourning. Even though she was upset now, Amber had already been through the grief of losing the princes before. It didn't make it any easier, but she knew she would survive. Her feet carried her back up to where Thorin now sat alone. Bilbo had moved to the steps at the beginning of Ravenhill. She barely acknowledged him as she stepped around to go to Thorin's body. Going through the same motions she wasn't surprised to find no pulse in the King. She pressed her forehead to his but didn't pull away like she did with Kili and Fili.

"I should have been here. Should have warned you." A sob was creeping up on her but she didn't care. "This is my fault. You, Fili, Kili, it's all my fault. I could have saved you." Her voice grew thick with tears as she choked on a sob. She moved her hands to hold Thorin's head like he would pull away; even though she knew he couldn't. "I knew this was gonna happen. I should have told you, warned you. Done something to stop this. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. You're dead because of me. I could have stopped this. Please forgive me. I'm sorry."

She sobbed openly and she knew her tears were getting all over his face, but she couldn't bring herself to pull away. All the fight had left her. She had sworn to keep them alive; that they weren't going to die this time around. Sobs racked her body as she stayed leaning over the fallen King. She could hear the others joining them on the ice, but ignored them. They were going to hate her for her failure; going to shun her and turn her from their company. And she wouldn't blame them, she would turn herself away if she could. This was her fault. She felt a hand come to her shoulder that only made her cry harder. Another hand grabbed her arm and hauled her away from the body. She didn't fight them but continued to sob. Her eyes looked away from Thorin to see who had pulled her away. Dwalin wasn't looking at her but instead down at the body of his best friend and King. 

"I'm so sorry." She turned herself to wrap her arms around him in a tight hug. Her head was ducked to press into his neck where her tears continued to fall. "This is my fault. All of it." His hands left her shoulders and fell to encircle her. "I could have stopped this, Rose. They're dead because of me. I knew it was gonna happen; all of it. The battle, Azog, Thranduil, all of it. I knew about Smaug and everything about this quest. I'm so sorry! If I had just told them they would still be alive. I got them killed." 

The arms holding her loosened until he was stepping away. She met his eyes but didn't find the disgust and hate she thought. All there was was confusion. He started to shake his head at her but stopped. She looked away from him and back to the body of Thorin on the ice. 

"What is it that you speak of? Who is dead?" She snapped back to Dwalin with her own confusion. Her hand went to point down to Thorin without looking away from him. 

"Thorin and Fili and Kili. Azog and Bolg killed them." Another sob was clawing at her throat but she pushed it down. "I could have saved them, I knew it was gonna happen." 

"Wake up, lass. Yer dreamin'." Dwalin shook his head at her and placed both hands on her shoulders. She squinted at him then looked back down to where Thorin was still lying. 

"No, no, you're not listening! I'm not dreaming, I know this happens. How it happened. They're dead. Fili at the base of the tower and Kili is on a platform below with Tauriel." She wiped at her face and tried to pull away from him. His hands tightened on her shoulders to hold her in place. "Let go of me. I'm not dreaming, Dwalin. I've seen the movies and read the book enough times to have it memorized. I was going to stop this from happening." 

"Lass, no one is dead. Ye need to wake up." She narrowed her eyes at him and tried to pull away again. His grip held steadfast and refused to budge. 

"Let me go." The familiar words brought her mind back to the tall dark man from the meadow. A spike of fear had her pulling her shoulders back harshly. "Let me fucking go! I'm not telling you anything." The hands on her shoulders didn't loosen. Dwalin still watched her with the same unreadable expression he always wore. But something about it was much more sinister. The presence he normally had was shifting to something far darker than he could ever hold. And she knew exactly who it was. 

"Sauron." She tore herself away from Dwalin even as his face twisted up into confusion. His hands fell from her shoulders but she wasn't going to be fooled by the act. She knew the embodiment of evil would use any means to get into her head. "I'm not falling for it! You're not getting anything from me, asshole."

"I have no idea what you are suggesting." A dark familiar voice whispered into her ear. She spun around but didn't find anyone beside or behind her. Turning back around she found the tall man standing behind Dwalin. 

"Don't you fucking touch him! I will smite you myself." She took a step closer to the dwarf only to have the man place a hand on his shoulder. There was something akin to fear slowly dawning on Dwalin's face at the touch. Amber reached out a hand towards him but found she could no longer move. "Let us go." 

"Tell me what I want to know." The same line had her blood boiling. She snarled up at the man and fought against the hold he had her in. The frozen feeling over her body barely budged but that didn't stop her from shoving against it harder. 

"I'm gonna fucking kill you myself. Galadriel and the White Council are going to be the least of your worries when I find you! Magic be damned, I will kill you bare handed!" She ripped out of the hold with a shout of pain. It felt like a limb had just been severed. But she ignored it to launch herself at the man. Moving around Dwalin's still form, her fist swung out to hit the man straight in the face. It was like punching a brick wall. 

"I would like to see you try." The man reached out to catch her arms only to have her pulled away. Heavy hands grasped her waist and pulled her backwards. A bright light burst between her and the man that burned her eyes to look at. It didn't last long before darkness fell over her.


End file.
